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- Vaccine launch has started in Great Britain
- 90-year-old woman was the first recipient
- She described it as “the best anticipated birthday gift.”
Margaret Keenan, a 90-year-old grandmother, became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine outside of a trial Tuesday when Britain began vaccinating its population.
An early riser, Keenan received the vaccine at her local hospital in Coventry, central England, on Tuesday morning at 06:31 GMT, a week before her 91st birthday.
Britain began rolling out the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech on Tuesday, the first Western country to begin vaccinating its general population in what was hailed as a decisive milestone in defeating the coronavirus.
“I feel so privileged to be the first person to be vaccinated against Covid-19,” Keenan said, as she was hit by a nurse from the Philippines in front of a photographer and television crew.
“It’s the best anticipated birthday gift I could wish for because it means that I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the New Years after being alone for most of the year.”
Keenan, known as Maggie to her friends, is a former jewelry assistant who retired just four years ago. He has a daughter, a son and four grandchildren.
Video footage shows her wearing a medical mask along with a blue T-shirt and cardigan as she receives the shot from Nurse May Parsons.
Parsons, who has worked for Britain’s National Health Service for 24 years, said the past few months had been hard for everyone, but he felt there was now light at the end of the tunnel.
Britain is the European country worst affected by Covid-19, with more than 61,000 deaths, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson hopes to turn the tide of the disease by rolling out the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine before the United States or the European Union.
The mass inoculation will fuel hope that the world is turning a corner in the fight against a pandemic that has crushed economies and killed more than 1.5 million, although ultra-cold storage and complicated logistics will limit its use for now.
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Stephen Powis, England’s NHS Medical Director, said they both found it very exciting to see the vaccine program launch.
The BBC also conducted an interview with another elderly woman who will receive the vaccine today, very upset after she lost her husband to Covid-19 earlier in the year.
Britain has ordered 40 million doses of the injection from Pfizer / BioNTech. Since each person requires two doses, that’s enough to vaccinate 20 million people in the country of 67 million.
Around 800,000 doses are expected to be available during the first week, with nursing home residents and caregivers, those over 80 years of age, and some health service workers being the highest priority in obtaining them.
