Britain began the mass-vaccination of its population against COVID-19 on Tuesday, becoming the first Western nation to do so in a global endeavour that poses one of the biggest logistical challenges in peacetime history.
On a day dubbed “V-Day”, health workers started inoculating people with a shot developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, with the country a test case for the world as it contends with distributing a compound that must be stored at -70C (-94F).
Margaret Keenan, a grandmother who turns 91 in a week, became the first person in the world to receive the vaccine outside of a trial when she received the shot at her local hospital in Coventry, central England.
“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 said.
The launch will fuel hope that the world may be turning a corner in the fight against a pandemic that has killed more than 1.5 million people, with Britain the worst-hit European country with over 61,000 deaths.
Britain is the first nation globally to begin mass inoculations with the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, one of three vaccines that have reported successful results from large trials after being developed in record time.