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A 90-year-old British woman became the first patient in the world to receive the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech on Tuesday., within a vaccination campaign launched by the United Kingdom that promises to be long and logistically complicated.
The United Kingdom – the first western country to begin vaccinating its population against the coronavirus – decided give priority to the elderly, their carers and healthcare personnel.
Margaret Keenan – about to turn 91 years old and dressed in a shirt with Christmas motifs-, was the first to receive a dose, shortly after 0630 (local time and GMT) in a hospital in Coventry, central England.
“I feel very privileged to be the first person to be vaccinated against Covid-19, it is the best birthday gift in advance I could have hoped for”She declared under the flashes of photographers and surrounded by television cameras.
The woman had been kept in isolation since the start of the pandemic in March and thanks to the vaccine, of which he should receive a second dose in 21 days, “I can consider spending time with my family and my friends in the new year,” he was quoted as saying by the British news agency Press Association.
By chance the second vaccinated was William “Bill” Shakespeare, an 81-year-old man who declared himself “delighted” after receiving the vaccine.
United Kingdom, the country most affected by the pandemic in Europe, with more than 61,400 confirmed deaths, it was the first Western nation to authorize the use of a vaccine.
Russia began administering theirs, dubbed Sputnik V, last weekend and in China an experimental vaccine was supplied to a very small group of the population. The United States and the European Union are still awaiting approval from their regulators.
On this day that the Minister of Health, Matt hancock, baptized as “V day” -of vaccine … or victory-, the prime minister did not miss the opportunity to visit a hospital in London and speak with the first inoculated.
“It is incredible to see the vaccine come out, it is incredible to see this tremendous momentum for the entire nation but we cannot afford to relax.”he declared. Still “we have not defeated the virus”, he stressed, calling on everyone to accept the injection without fear.
Vaccination began only in hospitals, 50 in total, due to the need to maintain a very low temperature, between -70ºC and -80ºC, the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine of which the first 800,000 doses arrived in recent days from its manufacturing laboratories in Belgium.
The order of priorities – which began with nursing home residents and workers, medical personnel and people over 80 years old – will continue in the coming months by regressive age groups up to those over 50 years old.
The authorities warned that the bulk will be carried out in 2021 and hope to have vaccinated all vulnerable people by April, although this will depend on the rate at which the next vaccine deliveries arrive.
It will be “a long-distance race, not a speed race,” warned British Public Health Medical Director Stephen Powis.
UK has bought 40 million doses to Pfizer / BioNTech, enough for 20 million people.
It is less than a third of its population (66.5 million), but the country has the next authorization of other vaccines, among them that of the Modern American and, especially, those of the British of AstraZeneca / Oxford.
Of the latter, the British health authorities have reserved 100 million doses and as it can be stored at a temperature between 2ºC and 8ºC, its distribution will be easier.
The Vaccination Success Crucial to Johnson’s Government, widely criticized for his erratic policies against the pandemic and faced with a position in his own conservative ranks against the severe local restrictions that took effect on December 2 after the second lockdown.
To combat the reluctance of some Britons to receive the injection, Queen Elizabeth II, 94, and her husband, Prince Philip, 99, could be vaccinated in public in the coming days.
