Elderly British among the first to receive virus jab
Margaret Keenan (center), 90, is applauded by staff as she returns to her ward after becoming the first person to receive the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine at University Hospital in Coventry, England, on Tuesday.
A retired 90-year-old British shop clerk received the first shot in the country’s COVID-19 vaccination program on Tuesday, signaling the start of a immunization effort intended to offer a route out of a pandemic that has killed 1.5 million.
Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, got the shot at 6:31am on what public health officials have dubbed “V-Day.” She was first in line at University Hospital Coventry, one of several hospitals around the country that are handling the initial phase of the United Kingdom’s program. As luck would have it, the second injection went to a man named William Shakespeare, an 81-year-old who hails from Warwickshire, the county where the bard was born.
“I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against COVID-19,” said Keenan, who wore a surgical mask and a blue Merry Christmas T-shirt. “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.”
The UK is the first Western country to start a mass vaccination program after British regulators last week authorized the use of a COVID-19 shot developed by US drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech. US and European Union regulators may approve the vaccine in coming days, fueling a global immunization effort.
The vaccine’s efficacy data met its expectations for emergency use authorization, the US Food and Drug Administration said in documents released ahead of tomorrow’s meeting of outside experts to the FDA who will discuss whether to recommend the Pfizer shot for people aged 16 and older.
But despite the relief of people receiving the first dose of the two-dose regimen, they will have to wait three weeks for their second shot, and there is no evidence immunization will reduce transmission of the virus.
“It will gradually make a huge, huge difference. But I stress gradually, because we’re not there yet. We haven’t defeated this virus yet,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
Britain has received 800,000 doses of the vaccine, enough to vaccinate 400,000 people. The first shots will go to people over 80 who are either hospitalized or already have outpatient appointments scheduled, along with nursing home workers and vaccination staff.
