Tuesday marked a historic day with Britain finally rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, the first Western country to start vaccinating its general population.
While Margaret Keenan, a 90-year-old grandmother became the first person in the world to receive the vaccine outside of a trial, following her to get his jab of the coveted vaccine was..wait for it, 81-year-old William Shakespeare!
Shakespeare, who hails from Warwickshire in West Midlands of England received his dose of the vaccine at the University Hospital Coventry. BBC News Health Editor Hugh Pym posted a photo of the man receiving the vaccine and his tweet soon became viral due to him sharing his name with the acclaimed English bard of the Elizabethan era.
Second patient to get the COVID jab at University Hospital Coventry - would you believe it....William Shakespeare from Warwickshire pic.twitter.com/y0LzxgbJ9w
— Hugh Pym (@BBCHughPym) December 8, 2020
Social media seemed to be perked up quite a bit on Tuesday and some of it can be attributed to the vaccine roll out, bringing in much needed good news. Twitter users shared in the excitement too. Check out some of the reactions that made several references to the playwright:
The Taming of the Flu
— Dave Ward (@DaveWardDrummer) December 8, 2020
Looks good for his 456 years
— Matthew Garrahan (@MattGarrahan) December 8, 2020
Look you, this brave o’erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden Pfizer.
— David M Barnett (@davidmbarnett) December 8, 2020
I love this, all of it. The vaccine, Margaret, Will Shakespeare and these replies have all brightened my day no end 🌞
— Samantha Dawson (@samdee42) December 8, 2020
This is much ado about nothing.
— James Barisic 🇭🇷 🇫🇷 🇪🇺 (@jamesmb) December 8, 2020
Britain's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) granted emergency use approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which they say is 95% effective in preventing illness, in record time - just 23 days since Pfizer published the first data from its final stage clinical trial. Those over-80, care home workers and at-risk health and social care staff have been put in line first for the new vaccine.