90-year-old Margaret Keenan from Coventry became the first person in the world, outside of live trials, to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
Mrs Keenan received the vaccine at her local hospital on Tuesday morning at 06:31 GMT, a week before her 91st birthday. As an inpatient over 80 years old, Margaret was at the top of the priority list.
“I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against Covid-19,” said Keenan.
“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,” she added.
“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.”
Mrs Keenan will head back to the hospital in 21 days for the second dose of the vaccine.
NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens praised all those involved in delivering the new vaccine programme.
“Less than a year after the first case of this new disease was diagnosed, the NHS has now delivered the first clinically approved Covid-19 vaccination – that is a remarkable achievement,” Stevens said.
“A heartfelt thank you goes to everyone who has made this a reality – the scientists and doctors who worked tirelessly, and the volunteers who selflessly took part in the trials. They have achieved in months what normally takes years.
“My colleagues across the health service are rightly proud of this historic moment as we lead in deploying the PfizerBioNTech vaccine.
“I also want to thank Margaret, our first patient to receive the vaccine on the NHS.
“Today is just the first step in the largest vaccination programme this country has ever seen. It will take some months to complete the work as more vaccine supplies become available and until then we must not drop our guard. But if we all stay vigilant in the weeks and months ahead, we will be able to look back at this as a decisive turning point in the battle against the virus.”
