Ray Connolly has urged people not to be “frightened” of having the coronavirus vaccine as he continues to recover from having the illness.
The writer was given his second dose of the vaccine on Thursday.
He previously spent more than three months in an induced coma after being admitted to hospital with Covid-19 last year.
Connolly, 80, told the PA news agency he is “astonished” some people do not want to take the vaccine, adding that people should not be “frightened” about the jab.
“If you don’t want to have it, you are letting everybody else down, as well as yourself, but mainly you are letting yourself down,” he said.
“If you don’t get vaccinated, you are risking not only yourself but other people, that’s the important thing.”
The Beatles biographer and playwright added: “Nobody’s protected until we are all protected.”
Connolly said he suffered with the virus “extremely badly” and he is “very lucky to be alive”.
“Covid doesn’t only affect some things, it affected all kinds of things.
“It affected my liver, I had two heart attacks, I got pneumonia, my lungs were scarred.
“All kinds of things were being affected so to come back from that is wonderful.”
He added: “I think I’m 70% back to where I was a year ago.”
Connolly said the vaccination centre he visited in London was “so professional”.
“The whole thing takes 20 minutes maximum and it hardly hurts, it’s a bit of a prick and that’s it,” he said.
He also praised the “fantastic” vaccination programme in the UK.