Slade, who suffers from type 1 diabetes and is therefore considered to be in a group who are particularly vulnerable to a Covid-19 infection, was offered access to the vaccine as the UK government seeks to fast-track jabs to those who may need it the most - but the Exeter Chiefs star says that he won't be taking up the offer because he feels "perfectly fit and healthy".

"There is no way of knowing what it could do," Slade told the Daily Telegraph.

"I have had vaccines in the past and have fallen pretty unwell with them afterwards. 

"I don't know if that has anything to do with the diabetes or not. I am going to stay away from this one. I just think there hasn't been anywhere near enough testing to deem it safe.

"I don’t think you can trust it, can you? I don’t think [vaccination against Covid] has been going [for] long.

"There is no way of knowing what could happen with it in the future. I am perfectly fit and healthy. I don’t fancy it at all."

Slade added that he received Covid-19 tests "three, four times a week anyway".

Some cases of blood clots have been linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine but experts maintain that these instances are extremely rare. Data from the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency revealed that there have so far been 332 cases of blood clots and 58 deaths. 

Around 24.2 million first doses and a further 10.7 million second doses have been administered to date in the UK, leading to an incidence rate of around 13 blood clots per million first doses injected.