Jonathan Van-Tam called ‘traitor’ by antivax activist

Jonathan Van-Tam faced “appalling abuse” from an antivax protester in the street, Downing Street said today.

England’s deputy chief medical officer was accosted by Geza Tarjanyi, from Leyland, Lancashire, who called Van-Tam a “traitor to the country” who would go to prison for his role in a “genocide”.

In a video that Tarjanyi, 60, filmed of himself asking a series of questions to Van-Tam, he says: “What was really in that needle that you put into Matt Hancock?”

The health secretary was pictured receiving his first vaccination from Van-Tam in April.

“Why of all people in the NHS was it you administering the vaccine to Matt Hancock?” Tarjanyi asks as he follows Van-Tam from the street into the reception of the Ministry of Defence building