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Margaret Keenan, a 90-year-old woman from the United Kingdom became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine following its clinical approval in the UK.
The UK’s National Health Service kicked off its “biggest vaccine campaign in National Health Service (NHS) history” on Tuesday morning with Keenan becoming the first person to receive the Pfizer Covid-19 jab, as per an official release by the NHS.
“Meet Maggie: the first person in the world to receive a fully-tested and approved Covid-19 vaccine on the NHS,” NHS England tweeted from its official account.
Keenan was given the vaccine shot on early Tuesday by nurse May Parsons at her local hospital in Coventry. Keenan who turns 91 next week, is a former jewellery shop assistant who retired four years ago, as per the release.
“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,” said Kennan who has a daughter, a son and four grandchildren.
“Today is just the first step in the largest vaccination programme this country has ever seen. It will take some months to complete the work as more vaccine supplies become available and until then we must not drop our guard. But if we all stay vigilant in the weeks and months ahead, we will be able to look back at this as a decisive turning point in the battle against the virus.” said NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens.
Earlier this month, the UK became the first western country to grant a temporary authorisation for emergency use for the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 mRNA vaccine (BNT162b2), against Covid-19.
“This is the first Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) following a worldwide Phase 3 trial of a vaccine to help fight the pandemic. Pfizer and BioNTech are anticipating further regulatory decisions across the globe in the coming days and weeks and are ready to deliver vaccine doses following potential regulatory authorisations or approvals. The distribution of the vaccine in the UK will be prioritised according to the populations identified in guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI),” Pfizer had said.
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