Labour suspends Oxford councillor for getting jab ‘privately’

A Labour councillor has been suspended from the party after claiming on social media to have received a Covid vaccination from a private doctor.

Jamila Azad, who has been elected to both Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council, has since removed the post from her Facebook page.

The government said jabs were only allowed to be administered by the NHS.

Ms Azad said she did not want to comment. The Labour party confirmed an investigation was underway.

The original Facebook post showed Ms Azad and a woman thought to be her daughter receiving injections from a man in medical scrubs and PPE, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

It was accompanied with the comment: “My darling daughter took me to a Private Care Doctor for Covid 19 vaccine. A long wait for NHS waiting list. We had take away from Akber take away.”

It is unclear where Ms Azad and her daughter, who works in London and the Middle East, may have received the vaccine.

According to The Department of Health and Social Care, it would be illegal to administer vaccines outside of the NHS and, if this happened, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) would take enforcement action.