New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson has contracted COVID-19 and has said if it were not for his fully vaccinated status, he "could be in serious trouble."
The singer revealed his diagnosis in a recent interview with Rolling Stone and the news comes just days after Dickinson had to postpone two of his spoken word tour dates in the U.K. after a member of his "immediate household" had tested positive for the virus.
Upon taking a lateral-flow COVID test, Dickinson received a positive result and said, "I thought, 'Oh well, shit.' I was kind of sneezing a bit. For a couple of days, I felt a bit groggy, kind of like the flu, and that was it. And I'm 63 years old. I've pretty much got no doubt that had I not had the vaccine, I could be in serious trouble."
The heavy metal legend also explained that he does not believe fans should be required to be vaccinated to attend concerts, but strongly urged vaccination as a means of dealing what the likely permanence of COVID-19 in society and to protect themselves.
"It is a personal choice," Dickinson confessed. "Personally, I think people are just very badly advised if they don't go and get themselves double jabbed as quickly as possible, not for the reasons of going into concerts, but for their own health," he continued.
The singer went on, "Having said that, even if you've had a double jab, you can still get COVID, and therefore you can spread it to other people who might not have been vaccinated and they might get very sick and die."
Noting that legal systems ultimately can't protect humans from deaths of other sorts, Dickinson expounded, "Now you cannot legislate against mortality. There are many things in this world that kill people and they're not illegal but are unfortunate. Cancer kills a lot of people.
Heart attacks kill a lot of people. Obesity kills a lot of people. Malaria kills a shitload of people every year. ...So at some point, we have to just go, 'We're probably going to have to live with this. And if we're going to live with it, then you have your vaccination.'"
The Maiden frontman also told Rolling Stone that a series of lateral-flow tests came back negative multiple times before a positive result came though, but acknowledged that since he was vaccinated, "the extent of the discomfort" was akin to having a cold.
"The biggest issue is just stay indoors so you don't go and pass it on to somebody else who might go and pass it on to somebody who actually is vulnerable," Dickinson noted, stressing precaution.
Loudwire wishes Dickinson and others in is household a quick and full recovery.
Iron Maiden's 17th album, Senjutsu, drops on Sept. 3 and you can read our track-by-track guide and review of the record here.
