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The UK has begun vaccinating its population against COVID-19, an encouraging move that other countries hope to follow soon to tackle a pandemic that continues to rage across the world. The first to receive the vaccine: people over 80 years of age and health personnel.
The British became the first Europeans to start receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. This day was christened by the UK Health Minister, Matt Hancock, as “V Day”, as he explained, “of vaccine, of victory.”
Margaret Keenan, 90, became the first person in the UK and the world to receive the COVID-19 vaccine developed by US pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.
See more: The first person to receive the COVID-19 vaccine
Keenan, whom his friends and family call “Maggie,” received the first of two doses of the vaccine from Filipino nurse May Parsons. The woman, who will turn 91 next week and is a native of the Northern Irish town of Enniskillen, is a former employee of a jewelry store, has a daughter, a son and four grandchildren.
“I feel so privileged to be the first person to be vaccinated against COVID-19. It is the best birthday present, early on, and because it means that I will finally be able to spend time with my family and friends on New Years after being practically alone all year, ”she declared.
How will the British be vaccinated?
The director of the NHS in England, Simon Stevens, thanked all the people who participated in getting this important new vaccination program up and running. “Less than a year after the first case of this new disease was diagnosed, the NHS is now providing the first clinically approved COVID-19 vaccine,” he added.
Keenan will receive the second dose in 21 days.
See more: Orders for coronavirus vaccines
About 50 hospitals in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland began on Tuesday with vaccinations for people over 80 years old and employees of the health sector and nursing homes, although residents will have to wait for logistics to allow the transfer to the vaccination site in the next few days.
According to regulators, the vaccine will be effective seven days after a person receives the second dose, although there is some protection 12 days after the first.
The United Kingdom has committed 40 million doses, which will vaccinate 20 million people.
In recent days, fifty hospitals received the first 800,000 doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer / BioNTech, the only one authorized for now in the United Kingdom, arriving from their laboratories in Belgium.
The executive hopes to have vaccinated all vulnerable people by April, but 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.
The success of the vaccination campaign is crucial for the government of Boris Johnson, widely criticized from the beginning of the pandemic for its erratic policies and now faced with the position in its own conservative ranks to the severe local restrictions that went into effect on 2 December at the end of the second confinement.
See more: Colombia would buy 10 million vaccines against COVID-19 from Pfizer
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.
Russia and the United States
Country worst hit in Europe by the pandemic, with more than 61,400 confirmed deaths, the United Kingdom is the first Western country whose regulatory body authorized the use of a vaccine.
Russia began to administer its, called Sputnik V, last weekend and now the health authorities of that country raised to 56 days the period in which those interested in being vaccinated must abstain from consuming alcohol.
“Two weeks before immunity you absolutely must stop consuming (alcohol). The formation of immunity is 21 days between the two injections and another 21 after, “for a total of 56 days, Anna Popova, Russian health chief, told the radio station” Komsomólskaya Pravda “.
Popova stressed that those who get vaccinated must take special care of their body during that period of time if they want to strengthen their immune system against the virus.
“If we want there to be health and (immune) self-defense, we have to let the body form it. Therefore, neither before, nor after, nor during. Simply, never and in no case ”, he affirmed, regarding the consumption of vodka and other alcoholic beverages.
See more: AstraZeneca vaccine is endorsed by the scientific journal The Lancet
In case of adverse effects due to forced abstinence, Popova recommended that those affected who suffer some kind of “discomfort” seek medical attention.
In the United States and the European Union, the respective drug safety agencies must announce their approvals soon.
The US-German pharmaceutical alliance Pfizer / BioNTech will deliver 249,000 doses of its vaccine to Canada by the end of December, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday.
