Coventry pensioner becomes first NHS patient to receive Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination

The biggest vaccine campaign in NHS history kicked off this morning, as 90-year-old grandmother Margaret Keenan became the first person in the world to receive the  COVID-19 jab following its clinical approval.

At 6.31am early riser Margaret, known to friends and family as Maggie, was given the life-saving jab by nurse May Parsons at her local hospital in Coventry.

Maggie, who turns 91 next week, is a former jewellery shop assistant who only retired four years ago. She has a daughter, a son and four grandchildren and is looking forward to being able to go out again once she receives the top up dose.

Margaret said: “I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against COVID-19, 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.”

“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!”

NHS nurse May Parsons said it was a “huge honour” to be the first in the country to deliver the vaccine to a patient.

Speaking at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, nurse May Parsons, said: “It’s a huge honour to be the first person in the country to deliver a COVID-19 jab to a patient, I’m just glad that I’m able to play a part in this historic day.

“The last few months have been tough for all of us working in the NHS, but now it feels like there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

The start of the vaccination programme comes just days after the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approved the first Covid-19 vaccine for use in the UK, confirming its safety and effectiveness for mass vaccination centre use, based on a detailed independent expert review of the results of largescale clinical trials.

Some 40 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be available across the UK, with Wales getting its allocation based on its population. In the first wave of vaccine deliveries, Wales will receive almost 40,000 doses, enough for nearly 20,000 people.

All health boards will start administering vaccines to care home staff, those over 80 years and frontline health and social care workers most at risk – over 6000 doses will be given by the end of this week.

Despite the specific storage and preparation challenges posed by the vaccine, work continues to ensure a safe deployment of effective vaccine to care home residents

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advises that the first priorities for the COVID-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention of mortality and the maintenance of the health and social care systems. As the risk of mortality from COVID-19 increases with age, prioritisation is primarily based on age.This priority list is as follows:

• residents in a care home for older adults and their carers
• all those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers
• all those 75 years of age and over
• all those 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals
• all those 65 years of age and over
• all individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality
• all those 60 years of age and over
• all those 55 years of age and over
• all those 50 years of age and over

It is estimated that taken together, these groups represent around 99% of preventable mortality from COVID-19.

V-DAY: Covid-19 vaccine roll-out begins in Wales