New Delhi: Margaret Keenan, a 90-year-old woman from Britain became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine outside a clinical trial on Tuesday. This historic moment marked the start of the UK’s mass vaccination programme against the deadly coronavirus disease.
Keenan, a grandmother-of-four has lived in Coventry for six decades but is originally from Eniniskillen, Northern Ireland. She was given the vaccine by nurse May Parsons at the Coventry’s University Hospital at 6.31 am (GMT).
Keenan said, “I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against Covid-19, it’s the best early birthday present I could wish for because it means I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the new year after being on my own for most of the year.”
“I can’t thank May and the National Health Service (NHS) staff enough who have looked after me tremendously, and my advice to anyone offered the vaccine is to take it – if I can have it at 90 then you can have it too.”
‘I can’t thank May and the NHS staff enough who have looked after me tremendously, and my advice to anyone offered the vaccine is to take it — if I can have it at 90 then you can have it too!’ pic.twitter.com/mlIwvp6g0f
— NHS England and NHS Improvement (@NHSEngland) December 8, 2020
On this occasion, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson took to Twitter to thank the scientists and National Health Service (NHS) for the hard work in developing the vaccine. Retweeting the NHS, Johnson wrote, “Today the first vaccinations in the UK against COVID-19 begin. Thank you to our NHS, to all of the scientists who worked so hard to develop this vaccine, to all the volunteers – and to everyone who has been following the rules to protect others. We will beat this together.”
Today the first vaccinations in the UK against COVID-19 begin. Thank you to our NHS, to all of the scientists who worked so hard to develop this vaccine, to all the volunteers – and to everyone who has been following the rules to protect others. We will beat this together. https://t.co/poOYG1vHQe
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) December 8, 2020
The UK will be the first country in the world to start using the Pfizer vaccine after regulators approved its use last week.
Since the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine got the green light from the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the NHS said its workers have been working around the clock to manage the large-scale logistical challenge of deploying the vaccine.
Vaccination will not be compulsory in the UK. The country has reported more than 1,742,000 conformed COVID-19 cases and over 61,000 deaths.
(With Agency inputs)