On Tuesday morning, Margaret Keenan – a British grandma – is the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine shot outside the trial.
Keenan used to be a jewelry shop assistant and retired four years ago. At the age of 90, a week before the 91st birthday, the British grandma was the first one to be provided the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at her local hospital in Coventry, central England since Britain began mass immunization.
A photographer and TV crew recorded the historical moment of not only Britain but also the entire world. In the video, she was wearing a light blue mask, a grey cardigan along with a blue t-shirt, and the message “Merry Christmas”. May Parsons – an original from the Philippines – is the nurse who shot in Keenan’s arm. Parsons has been working at Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) for 24 years.
“I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against COVID-19,” Keenan said. “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.”
With over 61,000 deaths, Britain is considered the biggest region in Europe that suffered from COVID-19. Prime Minister Boris Johnson expects that the mass inoculation of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine before the United States or European Union would be carried out aiming to reverse the effect of this pandemic.
Despite several obstacles such as ultra-cold storage and tricky logistics will limit the use of vaccine, the mass immunization will be an initial optimism helping the world to fight against a pandemic that damaged the economies throughout the world and killed more than 1.5 million.
“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,” Johnson said on Twitter.
“We will beat this together.”
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Stephen Powis medical director for NHS England admitted that it was really touching when watching the vaccine program spread-out.
According to the BBC, a man named William Shakespeare from Warwickshire will be the second one receiving the the jab in Britain.
Those who are over 80 years old and some health service workers will be the first priority to be vaccinated. 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech shot had been ordered by Britain, which are enough to inject 20 million presidents among 67 million of this country. Approximately 800,000 doses of vaccine are anticipated to be accessible within the first week.
