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The first person in the world to receive the Pfizer / BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine outside of clinical trials is a grandmother in the UK, Margaret Keenan. The second person is a man named William Shakespeare.
They were part of the first 800,000 doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine to be distributed in the coming weeks in the UK. Up to four million more are expected by the end of December. Margaret Keenan, who will celebrate her 91st birthday next week, says the vaccine was the “best anticipated birthday gift.”
“It means that I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the new year, after being alone for most of the year… My advice to anyone who is offered the vaccine is to take it. If I can have it at 90, then you can have it too, ”he added.
William Shakespeare, not to be confused with William Shakespeare, the English playwright, is an 81-year-old man from Warwickshire, which is surprisingly also the county where the famous English playwright was born. He received his vaccine at Coventry University Hospital, along with Keenan.
“It could make a difference in our lives from now on, right? It has started to change our lives and our lifestyle, ”Shakespeare said.
Throughout the day, patients and healthcare workers in 50 hospitals across the UK have received the vaccine. This is because the UK is the first country in the world to start using the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine after regulators approved its use last week.
While this is a huge milestone for the UK, the NHS faces a huge task in implementing this vaccine. There are already reports of manufacturing problems, meaning the UK expects less than half of the 10 million doses of the vaccine it was planning by the end of the year.
It must also be kept in ultra-cold storage and in batches of 975 units, which means that batches cannot yet be brought to nursing homes to vaccinate residents, the highest priority group. It also cannot yet be sent to community clinics.
People who get the vaccine must also need two doses to get full immunity. Despite the early protection the first dose received, it is not clear how long that protection alone would last. The second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine gives the immune system a significant long-term boost.
That’s why the UK is also expecting its British-made Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine to get the green light. Your vaccine can be stored in refrigerators and is therefore easier to distribute.
As for Malaysia, the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine will arrive in the country in 2021 and will be free to Malaysians. The doses will be enough to vaccinate 6.4 million people, with the initial shipment of one million doses to 500,000 front-line healthcare workers.
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