What the papers say – February 26

An entreaty for vaccinations from the monarch and problems for the NHS lead the papers.

The Sun says the Queen is “right as reign” after her jab and Metro has the headline “One is not immune”.

The Daily Express says the Queen has delivered a shock message: “Do your duty … Get the jab!”, with the Daily Mirror also calling on readers to “do one’s duty”.

“It’s selfish not to have a jab”, the Daily Mail cites the Queen as saying, in a line echoed by The Daily Telegraph.

The i, meanwhile, reports NHS staff in England are set to be disappointed when they receive no pay rise in Wednesday’s Budget.

Rishi Sunak’s Budget will bring a “tax raid” on pensioners and Tory MPs face losing the whip if they rebel, The Times says.

Hospitals in the health service are “racing to tackle a backlog of tens of thousands” of urgent operations that have to be performed to stop patients dying or losing limbs, according to The Independent.

The Financial Times reports a Russian-developed vaccine costing the African Union three-times the price of the Oxford/AstraZeneca and Novavax jabs “undermines Moscow’s argument that it is offering affordable jabs to countries priced out of deals” with western pharmaceutical firms.

The Guardian covers new research showing the Atlantic Ocean circulation behind the Gulf Stream, the weather system which brings warmer weather to Europe, is at its weakest in more than a millenium.

And the Daily Star says a popular potato-shaped plastic toy has been given a gender-neutral new name, meaning it has lost its “meat and 2 veg”.