The man named William Shakespeare is the second to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in England

LONDON – To vaccinate or not to vaccinate?

William Shakespeare himself is weighing that question and choosing to vaccinate.

The historic name was shared by the second man in Britain to receive the Pfizer-approved COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, outside of the clinical trial participants.

The 81-year-old Bill to his friends lives in Warwickshire, England, just about 20 miles from Bard’s royal hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon.

The historical significance of the moment and the historical name sparked some fun on social media amid the severity of the pandemic.

Famous Shakespeare quotes were being reused for the occasion, with references to “Vacbeth” and “the taming of the flu.”

Shakespeare was vaccinated on camera and spoke briefly afterward, saying that he didn’t even feel the needle and that he was glad he could contribute.

“It could make a difference in our lives from now on, right?” he said.

Shakespeare’s vaccination followed that of Margaret Keenan, 90. His was the first blow in the UK’s COVID-19 vaccination program that started an unprecedented global effort to try to end a pandemic that has killed 1.5 million people.

Keenan, a retired store clerk from Northern Ireland celebrating her birthday next week, was leading the line at Coventry University Hospital to receive the vaccine that was approved by British regulators last week.

The UK is the first Western country to offer a widely tested and independently reviewed vaccine to the general public. The COVID-19 injection was developed by the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and the German BioNTech. Regulators in the United States and the European Union may approve it in the next few days or weeks.

“All ready?” Keenan asked Nurse May Parsons. “All set,” was the reply, as the hospital staff erupted in applause and also applauded as she was led down a corridor.

“I feel very privileged to be the first person to be vaccinated against COVID-19,” said Keenan, who wore a surgical mask and a blue “Merry Christmas” t-shirt with a cartoon penguin wearing a Santa hat. “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.”

The fanfare was a good cheer for the nation, if only for a moment. Authorities warned that the vaccination campaign would take many months, meaning the painful restrictions that have disrupted daily life and punished the economy are likely to continue until spring. The UK has seen more than 61,000 deaths in the pandemic, more than any other country in Europe, and has recorded more than 1.7 million confirmed cases.

“This really feels like the beginning of the end,” said Stephen Powis, medical director of the National Health Service in England. “It has been a really terrible year, 2020, all those things that we are so used to, meeting friends and family, going to the movies, have been interrupted. We can get them back. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not next month But in the next few months.

But it is important beyond these shores. The British program is likely to provide lessons to other countries as they prepare for the unprecedented task of vaccinating billions.

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On Saturday, Russia began vaccinating with its Sputnik V vaccine, and China also began administering its own domestically-made vaccines to its citizens and selling them abroad. But these are viewed differently because the vaccines in neither country have completed the last-stage trials that scientists consider essential to show that a serum is safe and effective.

Other vaccines are also being reviewed by regulators around the world, including a collaboration between the University of Oxford and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and one developed by the American biotech company Moderna.

Documents released by US regulators on Tuesday confirmed that Pfizer’s vaccine was highly protective against COVID-19 and appeared safe. New results on a possible vaccine from the University of Oxford and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca suggest that it is safe and has an efficacy of about 70%, according to the first results of tests from Great Britain and Brazil. But that report, in the Lancet medical journal, showed that questions remain about how well it helps protect people 55 and older.

British regulators approved Pfizer’s injection on December 2, and the country has received 800,000 doses, enough to vaccinate 400,000 people. The first vaccines go to people over the age of 80 who are hospitalized or already scheduled outpatient appointments, along with nursing home workers and vaccination staff.

Others must wait, and health officials have said those most at risk of contracting the virus will be vaccinated in the early stages. For most people, it will be next year before there are enough vaccines to expand the program.

UK health officials have worked for months to adapt a system aimed at vaccinating groups like school-age children and pregnant women into one that can quickly reach large parts of the population.

Questions arose about when the country’s most prominent elderly couple, Queen Elizabeth II, 94, and her husband, Prince Philip, 99, would receive the vaccine and if this would happen on camera.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab seemed puzzled when asked by NBC about it.

“I’m not sure if they would do it on camera,” Raab said. “But I’m confident that the arrangements will be made according to the phased approach I established, and like any family, they would have felt the pressures and all the concerns surrounding this pandemic as well.”

The 800,000 doses are only a fraction of what is needed in the UK The government targets more than 25 million people, or around 40% of the population, in the first phase of its vaccination program, which prioritizes people at higher risk of the virus.

The program will expand as supply increases, and the vaccine will be offered roughly by age group, starting with the oldest. Britain plans to offer vaccines to all people over the age of 50, as well as to younger adults with health problems that put them at higher risk.

In England, the vaccine is being shipped to 50 hospitals in the first wave of the program, with more hospitals expected to offer it as rollout proceeds. Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are making their own plans under the UK’s decentralized administration system.

Logistical problems are slowing down the distribution of the Pfizer vaccine because it must be stored at minus -70 degrees Celsius (minus -94 degrees Fahrenheit). Authorities are focusing on large-scale distribution points because each vaccine package contains 975 doses and they don’t want any to go to waste.

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The UK has agreed to buy more than 350 million doses from seven different producers. Governments around the world are making agreements with various developers to ensure they ensure delivery of products that are ultimately approved for widespread use.

All of these logistical challenges culminated in the vaccination of Keenan on Tuesday by Parsons, a nurse originally from the Philippines who has worked for the NHS for 24 years.

“I am happy to be able to participate in this historic day,” she said. “The last few months have been difficult for all of us who work in the NHS, but now there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel.”