Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, becomes the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer vaccine as part of the national vaccination program in the UK.
Margaret Keenan, a British grandmother who turns 91 next week is the first person in the UK and in the world who got vaccinated against COVID19. The first shot of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine was given at University Hospital Coventry, officially starting a global immunization program, a step toward the light at the end of the tunnel.
“My advice to anyone offered the vaccine is to take it – if I can have it at 90 then you can have it too!”, Keenan said in an attempt to encourage more people to get vaccinated. While in the United States, former presidents such as Clinton, Bush, and Obama want to take a vaccine on camera to evoke the public’s trust in vaccine’s safety, in the UK, it’s the ordinary, elderly people who are stepping up.
‘I’VE BEEN VACCINATED!’ pic.twitter.com/F68mrLS8TW
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) December 8, 2020
“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”, said the British PM Boris Johnson.
Without making too much fuss and ready-made political slogans, Britain has done what’s best for their people, while many around the world are stalling the process in an attempt to time the vaccine around who gets the credit for it.
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 is the first country in the world to approve and begin a rollout of the Pfizer vaccine.
This morning, Margaret Dixon, from Redcar, was one of the first patients to given the life-saving #COVID19 jab at #JamesCookHospital.
She said: “I’m looking forward to being free and being able to go to the shops, I’ve not been in one since March”. pic.twitter.com/owuLCSLvkb
— South Tees Hospitals (@SouthTees) December 8, 2020
At a Geneva news conference, the World Health Organisation’s Dr. Margaret Harris said that “vaccines are a great tool” but that the “effect of the vaccine in providing some kind of immune barrier is still far off, and that only public health measures can prevent a new surge of COVID-19 cases in Europe”
The UK Government has secured 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine so far. In order for the vaccine to be fully effective, patients need to receive two doses that will be administered three weeks apart.