Britain: Pfizer's first vaccine in a 90-year-old woman

Η Margaret Keenan, a 90-year-old grandmother from Britain, became the first person in the world to get the vaccine Pfizer against COVID-19 outside the context of trials, after clinical approval.

Keenan got the vaccine at her local hospital in Coventry of the central England this morning at 08:31 (GMT), one week before his 91st birthday.

Britain today began vaccinations with the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. It is the first Western country to start vaccinating its general population, hailed as crucial to defeating the coronavirus.

«I feel so privileged to be the first person to be vaccinated against Covid-19,» Keenan said.

«It's the best early birthday present I could have asked for because it means I can finally spend time with my family and friends in the New Year after being on my own for most of this year,» she added.

Mass vaccination begins

“Marathon” rather than sprint.Britain prepares to launch a “historic” campaign today (Tuesday) vaccination against the new coronavirus, the first in a Western country.

Britain, which has been hardest hit in Europe by the pandemic with at least 61,000 deaths, is the first country in the world to approve the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. Η Russia began administering, over the weekend, its own vaccine, the Sputnik V.

If the British rush to approve the vaccine was criticized by some scientists, the upcoming campaign bodes well for the Prime Minister's Conservative government Boris Johnson.

The prime minister's handling of the pandemic has come in for much criticism and he faces growing anger over the restrictions imposed on a large part of the country, which cause huge economic and social costs.

For the Minister of Health Matt Hancock, who described the first day of the vaccination campaign as “V day”, victory day, “the week ahead is a historic moment”.

The University Hospital of Croydon, south of London, is one of 50 hospital “centres” set up in England which began receiving over the weekend the first 800,000 initial doses of the vaccine from the Belgian Pierce factory. According to the Ministry of Health, 1,000 vaccination centres will also be set up.

Upon arrival, the vaccines were removed from their dry ice boxes by a drug technician wearing protective gear, and placed in a refrigerator where they must be kept at a temperature of -70 degrees.

“To know that they are here, that we are among the first in the country to get the vaccine, and therefore the first in the world, is just amazing,” admits Louise Caflan, chief pharmacist of the hospital group.

“It's not a sprint”

The tenants and staff of the retirement homes will be the first to be vaccinated, a task complicated by the curatorial challenges associated with the need to keep the vaccines at a very low temperature. They will be followed by health workers and those over 80 years of age, and then in descending order of age.

The authorities expect to vaccinate between now and the spring the nine categories they have identified, which include the over-50s, health workers and vulnerable groups. These account for 99% of the patients who died.

Britain ordered 40 million instalments of this vaccine, which allows it to protect 20 million people, with two doses needed three weeks apart.

The first instalments will also start to be administered on Tuesday in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. But the majority of the British population will have to wait until 2021.

Vaccine distribution will be a “marathon, not a sprint‘, warns the medical director of the National Health Service (NHS) Stephen Powys.

The Queen and the Rock Stars

According to British newspapers, the Queen Elizabeth II’, 94 years old, and her husband Prince Philip, 99 years old, will be vaccinated soon. They may even be vaccinated in public in order to encourage people to get vaccinated and to counter those who are against vaccines.

Other celebrities may also contribute, according to the Sunday Mirror, like the singer Bob Geldorf or the guitarist of the Rolling Stones, Ronnie Wood.

In order to avoid any complications associated with the Brexit after the end of the transitional period on 31 December, the government envisages having recourse to the use of military aircraft in case of delays at the border.

Meanwhile, health authorities are urging people to adhere to local restrictions that remain in place for much of Britain's population as they expect a resurgence of the virus after the Christmas.

In total, the government has secured access to about 357 million doses to be administered by seven pharmaceutical companies. It counts mainly on AstraZeneca and at the university of Oxford, which are easier to transfer than those from Pfizer, for a wider vaccination.