IRON MAIDEN's BRUCE DICKINSON: 'I Find It Incredible That Some People Are Still Resistant' To Getting Vaccinated

IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson, who tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this month after being fully vaccinated, discussed his battle with the disease in a new interview with Lyndsey Parker, editor-in-chief of Yahoo! Music.

"I'm absolutely fine," he said. "I never doubted I would be. I mean, it's like, you know, look, everybody I know has had both jabs. I'm quite happy about it. You know, none of us have started growing extra heads, suddenly wanting to sidle up to 5G phone masts or expressed a willingness to go down on Bill Gates. So all of these things I think is largely a myth. And yeah, so I'm absolutely fine."

Dickinson went on to lament the hesitancy toward medical and scientific recommendations, including the COVID-19 vaccine.

"I do honestly find it incredible that some people are still resistant [to getting vaccinated], but that's okay," he said. "The mask thing I genuinely do not understand. It doesn't mean you have to go wear masks everywhere all the time, but it's just that kind of awareness. Clearly, they do help. And if they do help, then why not? I mean, what is this craziness about it? I don't understand it. Not a big deal, quite frankly. There are much more weird things you could get upset about, which are probably quite serious, you know?"

Bruce stressed that while vaccines are exceptionally effective in preventing death and severe illness from the coronavirus and its known variants, they are far from foolproof in preventing infection altogether.

"Most people that have been vaccinated and get a case of what is almost certainly the delta variant, because it's 100% the dominant variant pretty much everywhere," he said. "So the people who are, these skeptics, will go, 'Oh yeah, yeah, but you still got it.' I said, 'Yeah, I did still get it.' My belief is — and I stress it's a belief, 'cause I can't prove that I wouldn't have been more sick if I'd not taken the vaccine. There's no proof of that. The only reason I'd prove that is if I didn't take the vaccine and got very, very sick, and then I'd be able to go to all these vaccine skeptics and go, 'There you are. You see? I told you I was right. I'm really sick.'"

He continued: "I mean, there's no arguing people like that, because their facts are based on different facts to the rest of us. I don't think it's anything to do with politics. I don't think people believe things like this because of politics. They believe it because of their psychological makeup. They have a need to believe in these things. And in fact, it's the same as people who go and sit on top of a mountain every year and wait for the world to end. And the world doesn't end. But do they modify their beliefs? Actually, no. It strengthens them that, 'Yep, we were right all along. It is definitely gonna end, just not this year. You see? The rest of the world is against us.' That's the way that some people think. It's their mentality. And you're probably not gonna change that. But for the rest of us, I would say just get vaccinated. And if you do get sick, you won't get very sick. It'll just be like a mild case of the flu."

Dickinson previously told Rolling Stone magazine that he doesn't personally believe that fans attending concerts should be required to get vaccinated, calling it "a personal choice," However, he said that he hopes everyone will get the shot. "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 said. "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. 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.'"

IRON MAIDEN's new album, "Senjutsu", will be released on September 3 via BMG. It was recorded in Paris with longstanding producer Kevin Shirley and co-produced by bassist Steve Harris.

The video for the LP's first single, "The Writing On The Wall", was made by BlinkInk based on a concept by Dickinson with two former Pixar executives. It followed a month-long teaser campaign and global "treasure hunt" for clues about the track title and concept.