Harpz Kaur: Get the vaccine - you don't want what I just had

"I couldn't move for 10 days. It's been rough - probably one of the hardest experiences of my life."

BBC Asian Network's breakfast show presenter Harpz Kaur was back on the airwaves this week after more than three weeks off with Covid-19.

She's a fit 31-year-old but says she was "shocked at how much it beat my body" and even her friends were scared.

"I didn't even get mild symptoms - I feel like it can happen to anyone, it's such a serious thing."

It all started on New Years Day: "Cold shivers - I was freezing but it was in a different kind of way, my hands and feet were like ice and at that point I did get really scared."

Harpz had a test and it was positive and says she then ended up with "every symptom you could possibly get with this new strain".

"A cough, a cold, a temperature, fever, really really severe body aches. I couldn't make it from bed to the bathroom, it was really difficult."

Harpz isolated for more than 10 days in her bedroom, her partner moving into the spare room and only dropping food off at her door.

"I don't think people realise how contagious it is. He got it too. Once it's in your house, it's hard to escape."

Her friends and family were shocked at how badly she was hit by it.

She posted this video on her birthday last week.

"My energy now is nowhere near what it was before, my entire body doesn't feel the same but I've been told it can take a while with the after effects to get back to where I was."

She tells us it's made work colleagues and friends more wary it could happen to them: "I still have no idea where I got this from."

The news people in their 80s from a white background are more likely to get the vaccine than those from black and Asian communities - even though less at risk is "upsetting and heartbreaking" says Harpz.

"This generation works by word of mouth, stop listening to other people, look it up and do your own research yourself."

"I've overheard people from my community saying, 'I'm not getting the vaccine'. It shouldn't be about what background you're from or what race you're from, there is an illness out there and it's something any of us could get."

She says her friends and family are taking it more seriously now and adds it isn't just the older generations that aren't believing.

"I've got younger siblings and they've been saying, 'It is what it is, if it's going to happen it's going to happen'.

"We need to be considerate of others. We could harm people around us if we don't start taking this seriously."

Before Harpz joined Asian Network and before coronavirus was thing

Harpz says she's shared her experience to get the message across.

"I needed to tell my own people from my background, 'Stop making these assumptions, stop thinking you're not ever going to get this because it can happen, I've had it it's been awful, I don't wish it on anyone."

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