Dr Hari Shukla, 87, with his wife Ranjan in Newcastle, Britain. REUTERS
London, December 8
An 87-year-old man and his 83-year-old wife from the north east of England on Tuesday became the first Indian-origin couple in the world to get a vaccine against Covid-19 after they got injected with their first of two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab at a hospital in Newcastle.
Dr Hari Shukla, a race relations campaigner-based in Tyne and Wear, was contacted by the NHS based on the criteria set for the world's first vaccine to receive regulatory approvals in the UK last week. His wife, Ranjan, then volunteered for the jab as she also falls within the first phase of people aged 80 and over to receive the "life-saving jab". "Hari Shukla and his wife Ranjan have become the first two patients at Newcastle Hospitals – and two of the first people in the world – to receive the vaccine," Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said.
They join 90-year-old Margaret “Maggie” Keenan from Coventry as the very first in the world to receive the shot. — PTI
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