LONDON (UK) – Britain set out on the mass-vaccination of its population against COVID-19 on Tuesday, becoming the first Western nation to do the same, as part of a global endeavour.
On a day dubbed “V-Day”, health workers started inoculating people with a shot developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. It contends with distributing a compound that must be stored at -70C (-94F).
Margaret Keenan, a grandmother who turns 91 in a week, who is the first person in the world to receive the vaccine outside of a trial 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.”
Britain is the first nation globally to begin mass inoculations with the Pfizer-BioNTech shot. The vaccine figures among one of the three vaccines found with successful results from large trials after being developed in record time.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock described the beginning of vaccinations as “V-Day”.
He said, adding that he expected millions to be vaccinated by the end of the year, “If we manage to do that for everybody who is vulnerable to this disease, then we can move on and we can return to normal.”
The country has ordered sufficient supplies of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot for the vaccination of 20 million people. The developers said it was 95% effective in preventing illness in final-stage trials.
In Britain, about 800,000 doses are expected to be available within the first week.
Hancock said that he had a “high degree of confidence” Britain would take delivery of another batch of the vaccine next week.
UK Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance said vaccines that were easier to store and deploy, such as the Oxford/AstraZeneca shot, would have a prominent role to play.
“The deployment of this vaccine marks a decisive turning point in the battle with the pandemic,” said Simon Stevens, head of the publicly funded NHS health service.
In total Britain has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech shot.
