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The fight against COVID-19 has taken a historic leap after the Pfizer / BioNtech vaccine was first administered to someone outside of a clinical trial.
Margaret Keenan, a 90-year-old grandmother of four, has become the first person in the world to receive the vaccine as part of a vaccination program.
Mrs Keenan, who has lived in Coventry for six decades but is originally from Eniniskillen, Northern Ireland, received the vaccine from Nurse May Parsons at the city’s University Hospital at 6.31am. M.
She said being her first was “a privilege” and “the best anticipated birthday gift she could wish for” as it would mean she could spend time with family and friends in the New Year “after being alone most of the year. “.
She thanked Ms Parsons and the NHS staff for taking “tremendously” care of her.
He added, “My advice to anyone offered the vaccine is to take it; if I can have it at 90, you can have it too!”
Ms Keenan, who worked as a jewelry store assistant until just four years ago, will receive a booster shot in 21 days to ensure she has the best chance of being protected against the virus.
The UK became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer vaccine last week.
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The weekend started arriving in batches at a hospital in South London ahead of UK launch.
The vaccines will be administered in dozens of hospitals starting today, called “V-Day” by Secretary of Health Matt Hancock, with people 80 and older and home care workers among the first to receive the vaccine.
Nurse Parsons said it was a “great honor” to be the first in the country to deliver the vaccine to a patient.
He added: “The last few months have been difficult for all of us who work in the NHS, but now it seems that there is light at the end of the tunnel.”
Ms Parsons, originally from the Philippines, has worked in the NHS for the past 24 years and has been at Coventry and Warwickshire University Hospitals since 2003.
The government has secured 40 million doses of the vaccine, which must be refrigerated at -70 ° C (-94 ° F). Studies have shown Pdo / BioNTech jab is 95% effective in preventing COVID-19 and works in all age groups.
The UK could have up to four million doses of vaccines by the end of December, NHS Providers told Sky News. About 800,000 doses arrived in the first batch.
NHS England Medical Director Stephen Powis said Sunday that COVID vaccines begin “feels like the beginning of the end“but warned that the campaign will be a” marathon, not a sprint. “
After the UK licensed the vaccine last week, the pace of the regulatory approval process by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has drawn some criticism, with suggestions that it was accelerating gaining public trust. .
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The vaccine marks ‘the beginning of the end’
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, criticized regulators that it proceeded “quickly” and “superficially”, saying that the United States had “the gold standard of a regulatory approach”. By comparison, he said: “The UK didn’t do it that carefully.”
He later apologized and said his comments on the UK approval were “taken out of context”.
The speedy approval of the MHRA was also criticized by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which suggested that its slower approach was more likely to win public trust.
In conjunction with the launch of the vaccine today, the government has released a report highlighting the work and accomplishments of its Vaccine Task Force (VTF).
Boris Johnson said: “The approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for use in the UK marks a momentous step in our fight against COVID-19.
“But we still have a long way to go and everyone must follow the rules to keep the virus under control.”
The long-awaited vaccine launch this week comes after more than 61,000 deaths from a virus that has devastated the UK and the rest of the world, with more than 1.5 million deaths recorded worldwide.
