Another shot in the arm as county is first to get new vaccine
AN unpaid carer aged 24 has become the first person in the UK to receive a dose of the Moderna vaccine.
Elle Taylor from Ammanford was given the jab at the West Wales General Hospital in Carmarthen.
Miss Taylor, who works at a further education college in Llanelli, received the Moderna jab from staff nurse Laura French at the hospital’s outpatients department.
Supplies of the Moderna jab arrived in the UK from Spain last Tuesday and people in West Wales are the first in the UK to receive it.
Speaking after receiving the vaccine, the 24-yearold said: “I’m very excited and very happy.
“I’m an unpaid carer for my grandmother so it is very important to me that I get it so I can care for her properly and safely.
“My grandmother has had her first dose and she is going for her second dose on Saturday.”
Miss Taylor said she only found out last Tuesday evening that she was to be the first Briton to receive the Moderna jab in the UK.
She said she had not heard of the Moderna vaccine until she was told she was receiving it.
“It was great, the nurses were lovely and it didn’t hurt,” she said.
Miss Taylor said she was aware of concerns about patients receiving the Oxford/astrazeneca vaccine developing blood clots.
“I had heard but it doesn’t concern me too much, and I guess if it happens, it happens and I am in the right care if I need it, and I feel happy that I’ve tried the new one.”
Asked how she felt to be a trailblazer for millions of other people, she said: “I feel thrilled and really happy and honoured, and I just hope it goes well for everybody.”
■ Here’s what we know about the Moderna vaccine:
How effective is it against coronavirus?
The phase three results suggested vaccine efficacy against the disease was 94.1%, and vaccine efficacy against severe Covid19 was 100%.
More than 30,000 people in the US took part in the trial, from a wide range of age groups and ethnic backgrounds.
Two doses were given 28 days apart so researchers could evaluate safety and any reaction to the vaccine.
The analysis was based on 196 cases, of which 185 cases of Covid-19 were observed in the placebo group versus 11 cases observed in the active vaccine group.
Moderna also released data relating to severe cases. All 30 severe cases occurred in the placebo group and none in the group which had received the vaccine, known as MRNA-1273.
Who developed the vaccine?
Moderna is a US pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters in Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
The vaccine received funding from two US federal agencies, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
Dolly Parton is credited with helping fund the jab after donating one million
“I’m an unpaid carer for my grandmother so it is very important to me that I get it so I can care for her properly and safely
Elle Taylor
dollars (about £716,000) to Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in Nashville, Tennessee, which took part in the research.
The singer broadcast herself receiving the jab on social media, adapting one of her most famous hits for the occasion.
To the tune of Jolene, Parton sang: “Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, I’m begging of you, please don’t hesitate.
“Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, because once you’re dead, then that’s a bit too late.”