Patient A: 90-year-old grandmother is first to receive Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine
A 90-year-old grandmother from central England has become the first person in the world to receive Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
Margaret Keenan has received the dose outside of clinical trials in line with the UK government’s vaccination campaign.
English broadcaster Piers Morgan also revealed in a tweet that the nurse who administered the vaccine was a Filipino nurse, May Parsons.
BREAKING: Margaret Keenan, 90, becomes first person in the world to receive the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, from Filipino nurse May Parsons who has worked in the NHS for 24yrs.
How wonderful that this historic global moment happened in the UK, at University Hospital, Coventry. ?? pic.twitter.com/kOag8uROy1— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) December 8, 2020
Keenan, a former shop assistant who is turning 91 in a week according to wire reports, received the vaccine at her local hospital in Coventry.
“I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against COVID-19,” Keenan told Reuters.
“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.”
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is hoping to stir the country’s recovery from being one the worst-hit European country from COVID-19 by administering the vaccine before the United States or the European Union.
Click through the gallery below to see snapshots of her vaccination.
In a tweet shared by the UK's National Health Service, Keenan thanked her nurse May and shared an advice to those who are offered the vaccine.
"If I can have it at 90 then you can have it too!" Keenan said.
'I can’t thank May and the 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!' pic.twitter.com/mlIwvp6g0f
— NHS England and NHS Improvement (@NHSEngland) December 8, 2020
Pfizer announced in Nov. that its vaccine trial showed it was 95% effective in preventing the spread of the virus, especially among adults aged 65 years and older.
Aside from Pfizer, other COVID-19 vaccines are also being developed by Russia, UK firm AstraZeneca, and China’s Sinovac.
(Story photos via AP)