‘Turning point’ as vaccine rolled out
A BRITISH grandmother has become the first in the world to receive Pfizer’s Covid19 jab outside a clinical trial as the NHS began its mass vaccination programme across the UK.
Margaret Keenan, 90, was given the jab in Coventry at 6.31am yesterday, marking the start of a phased NHS roll-out of the vaccine to older people, health staff and care home workers.
Jabs will be administered at 70 hospital hubs across the UK, starting from yesterday – dubbed “V-Day” by Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
Mrs Keenan, who turns 91 next week and has a daughter, a son and four grandchildren, received the vaccine from nurse May Parsons at University Hospital in Coventry.
Known to family and friends as Maggie, Mrs Keenan said: “I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against Covid19. 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.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited the vaccination centre at Guy’s Hospital in
London to meet some of the first people there to receive the vaccine.
Lyn Wheeler, 81, from Bromley, was the first patient to be given the jab at Guy’s and was vaccinated in front of Mr Johnson.
When he asked her how it had been, she said: “It’s all for Britain.”
She urged people to have the jab, adding: “I’m going for it because I feel there’s no other way forward, we can’t keep sitting in our houses.”
Mr Hancock appeared emotional during broadcast interviews, saying it was a proud day. Reacting to the footage of Mrs Keenan getting her jab, Mr Hancock told Sky News: “I’m feeling quite emotional, actually, watching those pictures.
“It has been such a tough year for so many people and finally we have our way through it – our light at the end of the tunnel as so many people are saying.”
Mr Hancock said he hopes “several million” people will have been vaccinated by Christmas, adding that while people must stick to the rules for now: “I have great hopes for summer 2021 and I hope we can lift the restrictions from the spring.”
Meanwhile, NHS England’s medical director, Professor Stephen Powis, said yesterday’s vaccinations were a “turning point in this pandemic”.
“This is the way out of it, the beginning of the end,” he said.
“It’s not going to happen tomorrow, it’s not going to happen next week or next month.
“We still need to socially distance, we need to follow all those restrictions in place.
“But, in 2021, vaccination programmes will mean we can get back to normality.”
NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens offered a “heartfelt thank you” to all those involved in the vaccine’s development, from scientists and volunteers in clinical trials to NHS staff.