Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, said it was the, “best early birthday present.”
She was given the injection at 06:31 GMT (12:31 am CST) – the first of 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that will be dispensed in the coming weeks.
Up to four million more are expected by the end of the month.
Hubs in the UK will vaccinate over-80s and some health and care staff – the program aims to protect the most vulnerable and return life to normal.
“I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against Covid-19,” Ms Keenan, who is originally from Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, said.
“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.
“My advice to anyone offered the vaccine is to take it. If I can have it at 90, then you can have it too,” she added.
Read more at BBC…
What about the U.S.?
Once COVID-19 vaccine candidates receive emergency-use authorization from the FDA, rollout is expected to begin as soon as 24 hours later. The first vaccine candidate through that gate will likely be the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which the FDA will make a decision about on December 10, followed by the Moderna vaccine, which the FDA will make a decision about on December 17.
The U.S. has worked to rush coronavirus-vaccine availability through a multibillion-dollar federal program called Operation Warp Speed, which is aimed at fast-tracking the development, testing, regulatory approval, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. The U.S. has already pre-purchased hundreds of millions of doses of various vaccine candidates sight unseen, and the Trump administration has vowed that at least the initial round of vaccinations will be available to all Americans free of charge.
Read more at The Intelligencer…
grapevinesource.com 