UK administers first COVID-19 vaccine to 90-year-old grandma

Picture credits:www.people.com

United Kingdom rolled out the first coronavirus vaccines to the public on Tuesday, making it the first country to inoculate people with a treatment that went through full testing. Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, made history as the world’s first person to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine outside of trial conditions. The vaccine was approved by the U.K. drug regulator last week.

“I feel so privileged,” she said. “It’s the best early birthday present I could wish for because 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.”

An 81-year-old man named William Shakespeare became the second person to get the vaccine. Now, the vaccine will be given to front-line health workers, nursing home workers and those ages over 80, before it is given more widely among the U.K. population.

On the eve of the vaccine being rolled out, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was a “huge step forward” in the fight against the pandemic. It will be the country’s biggest vaccination drives ever.

Johnson’s sentiment was echoed by NHS England’s Chief Executive Simon Stevens, who said on Monday that it was a “decisive turning point in the battle against coronavirus.”

The rollout comes at a crucial time for the country; the U.K. has the third-highest number of coronavirus cases in Europe, after France and Italy, with over 1.7 million confirmed infections, and more than 61,000 deaths, data from Johns Hopkins University shows.

Fifty hospitals have been chosen to act as vaccine “hubs” in the U.K. and these will act as the primary place where the inoculations are administered. Croydon University Hospital in London was one of the first hospitals to receive batches of the vaccine this weekend.

The U.K. preordered 40 million doses of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine, which proved to be 95% effective at preventing Covid infection in late-stage clinical trials.

As it is a two-dose vaccine, the country has bought enough doses to vaccinate 20 million people. Pfizer’s delivery of the vaccines will be staggered, with the total amount expected to have been delivered by the end of 2021.

Aside from security issues, there are other logistical challenges posed by the vaccine’s transportation and storage needs. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can only be moved four times, has to be stored at minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit), and once thawed, can only be stored at refrigerated temperatures for up to five days.

Vaccine development and approval can often take many years, but the devastating spread of the coronavirus pandemic has seen scientists race to find a way to stop the virus. The vaccine front-runners also include those developed by Moderna and AstraZeneca, which have also reported that their shots were widely effective at preventing coronavirus infection in clinical trials.

The vaccine makers have insisted that no corners have been cut. The U.K. regulator was the first in the world to grant approval to Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine last week, with its European counterpart expected to announce its conclusions about the Pfizer vaccine later this month, and the Moderna vaccine in early January. -TIN Bureau (with inputs from CNBC)