New Delhi (NVI): A 90-year-old woman from Northern Ireland in the UK has become the first person in the world to receive Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.
Margaret Keenan, a grandmother-of-four from Eniniskillen, Northern Ireland, received the vaccine shot at the Coventry’s University Hospital, England at around 6.31 am (GMT) UK time, according to reports.
After being administered the dose, Keenan said, “I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against Covid-19, it’s the best early birthday present I could wish for because it means I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the new year after being on my own for most of the year.”
“I can’t thank May and the National Health Service (NHS) staff enough who have looked after me tremendously, and my advice to anyone offered the vaccine is to take it – if I can have it at 90 then you can have it too,” she was quoted as saying by National Health Service (NHS) in a statement.
The United Kingdom became the first country in the world to start using the Pfizer vaccine after regulators approved its use last week.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson also took to Twitter to thank the scientists and National Health Service (NHS). Retweeting the NHS, Johnson wrote, “Today the first vaccinations in the UK against COVID-19 begin. Thank you to our NHS, to all of the scientists who worked so hard to develop this vaccine, to all the volunteers – and to everyone who has been following the rules to protect others. We will beat this together.”
Today the first vaccinations in the UK against COVID-19 begin. Thank you to our NHS, to all of the scientists who worked so hard to develop this vaccine, to all the volunteers – and to everyone who has been following the rules to protect others. We will beat this together. https://t.co/poOYG1vHQe
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) December 8, 2020
This achievement also marks the start of the UK’s mass vaccination programme against the deadly coronavirus disease. The first of 8,00,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be given in the coming weeks.
Britain has ordered a total of 40 million doses of the vaccine. Each person requires two doses and this would be enough to vaccinate 20 million people in the country of 67 million, according to reports.
-RJV
