Covid-19
vaccine: First person receives Pfizer jab in UK
The
UK has approved a COVID vaccine
A
UK grandmother has become the first person in the
world to be given the Pfizer Covid-19 jab as part
of a mass vaccination programme.
Margaret
Keenan, who turns 91 next week, said the
injection she received at 06:31 7th dec was the "best
early birthday present".
It
was 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 are starting the rollout by vaccinating
the over-80s and some health and care staff.
Senior
NHS sources told the BBC "thousands of
vaccinations" had taken place across the UK
on Tuesday.
Dubbing
the day "V-day", Health Secretary Matt
Hancock said it was "a tribute to scientific
endeavour and human ingenuity and to the hard work
of so many people.
"Today
marks the start of the fightback against our
common enemy, the coronavirus," he said.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, on a visit to a
London hospital to see some of the first people
getting the jab, said getting vaccinated was
"good for you and good for the whole
country".
Scotland's
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "Today
we should all allow ourselves a smile - but we
must not drop our guard."
On
Tuesday, the UK government reported a further 616
people had died within 28 days of a positive test,
taking the total, by that measure, to
62,033.
A
further 12,282 people tested positive for the
virus.
