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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Sirin Kale

The people making a difference: the public health champion who met his hero, Simon Cowell

Community advocate Alfred Oyekoya in Swansea
Community advocate Alfred Oyekoya in Swansea. Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian

When Alfred Oyekoya had his first Covid vaccine in January last year, he wanted a photograph of the event. “I needed a picture of me getting the vaccine, to educate my community,” says Oyekoya, 38, a civil servant living in Swansea. “The staff refused, telling me not to worry about education – the NHS was doing all that.”

He was crestfallen. “People were expecting me to have proof that I’d taken the vaccine.” Oyekoya returned to the vaccination centre a few hours later and this time was more insistent. Eventually the staff relented, took a photo of him, and Oyekoya uploaded the picture to social media.

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