First Oxfo rd dose delivered – yards from university

BRIAN Pinker was perhaps the perfect candidate to become the first person in the world to receive the Oxford-Astra Zeneca vaccine yesterday.

The retired maintenance manager, 82, from Oxford, was born and bred in the area. He was already due to attend the city’s Churchill Hospital for a kidney dialysis appointment yesterday – and happily accepted the offer of the latest Covid vaccine while he was there.

Mr Pinker received the jab at 7.30am from chief nurse Sam Foster, who said she felt ‘privileged’ to deliver the vaccine ‘just a few hundred metres from where it was developed’. Mr Pinker said he was ‘astounded’ to be called by a member of the vaccine team on Saturday night to be offered the inoculation. He is now looking forward to celebrating his 48th wedding anniversary with wife Shirley next month.

Mr Pinker said: ‘I’m really proud to be the first person given the vaccine. I didn’t even feel it go in – I feel absolutely fine. The vaccine means everything to me. To my mind, it’s the only way of getting back to a normal life.’

Mr Pinker undergoes dialysis three times a week after suffering kidney failure in 2014. A transplant three years ago failed when the organ was rejected by his body after six months.

‘I suppose I was picked for the vaccine because of my age and my underlying health issues,’ he said.

‘The nurses, doctors and staff today have all been brilliant.’

The pensioner spent 22 years on the assembly line at Oxford’s British Leyland plant after a stint in the RAF. He then moved on to a technology firm where he was in charge of cleaning and maintenance. Mr Pinker was closely followed by Trevor Cowlett, 88, a fellow dialysis patient. Third in line was Professor Andrew Pollard – who helped to develop the jab.

The director of the Oxford Vaccine Group was given priority because he is also a consultant at Oxford Children’s Hospital. Professor Pollard said it was an ‘incredibly proud moment’ to receive the vaccine he had worked on, adding: ‘As a paediatrician specialising in infections, I know how important it is that healthcare workers are protected as soon as possible.’