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UK Begins COVID Vaccination; 90-Yr-Old Gets First Pfizer Shot

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On Tuesday, 8 December, Margaret Keenan, a 90-year-old woman from Britain became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine outside of a trial, Reuters reported.

Keenan reportedly received the shot at her local hospital in Coventry, a week before she turns 91.

People across the UK are set to receive COVID-19 vaccine shots on Tuesday as a mass vaccination programme gets underway, in a historic moment dubbed ‘V Day’, BBC reports.

Britain last week became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. This will be the NHS’s biggest and most highly anticipated immunisation campaign in history.

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Earlier in November, Pfizer and BioNTech had announced that their coronavirus vaccine was more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19.

The vaccine will on Tuesday be available from around 50 hospital hubs across the country. Each of them has received an initial tray of 975 doses, which is stored at -70C and must be used within days of opening, reported The Sun.

The UK government has reportedly secured 800,000 doses of the Pfizer jab to begin with, but has placed order for 40 million in total, since two doses are needed. Four million doses are expected by the end of the year.

Speaking at the Royal Free Hospital in London ahead of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, Sir Simon said, reports the BBC,

“Tomorrow is the beginning of the biggest vaccination campaign in our history, building on successes from previous campaigns against conditions (and) diseases like polio, meningitis, and tuberculosis. Hospitals, and then GPs and pharmacists, as more vaccine becomes available, are going to be vaccinating at least until next spring.”
Sir Simon

According to PTI, NHS staff worked through the weekend in order for the first vaccinations to take place from Tuesday across 50 shortlisted hubs in the first stage. More hospitals will start vaccinations over the coming weeks and months.

Up to 48,750 people could get their first vaccine by the end of this week. Recipients will need two, 21 days apart. More centres will be opened in the weeks and months ahead as more supplies arrive.

Who Gets It First?

The mass vaccination programme is aimed at protecting the elderly and allowing life to return to normal amid the worldwide pandemic that has lasted for a year now.

The first batch will be given to those aged over 80, NHS hospital staff and patients, and some care workers, even though groups may overlap.

The BBC report mentions the following groups which are expected to receive the vaccine (in this order):

  • Residents in a care home for older adults, and their carers
  • Those aged 80 and above, frontline health and social workers
  • People aged 75 and over
  • Aged 70 and above, and those who are clinically extremely vulnerable
  • Aged 65 and above
  • People aged 16-64 with underlying health conditions

While care home residents were initially on top of the list, they may not be getting the first vaccination because the hospital hubs that have been chosen already have the required storage facilities. However, the necessary arrangements to vaccinate this group are being made, the government has said.

Will India Be Getting the Pfizer Vaccine?

Pfizer Inc became the first company to seek emergency use approval in India from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on 4 December. But as FIT as explained before, experts are not too excited about Pfizer with its many logistical and storage issues.

The firm has sought permission to import the vaccine for sale and distribution in the country, and a waiver for clinical trials on Indian population. This is in accordance with the special provisions under the New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019.

“During this pandemic phase, Pfizer will supply this vaccine only through government contracts based on agreements with respective government authorities and following regulatory authorisation or approval.”
Spokesperson from Pfizer Inc.

FIT earlier spoke with Dr Shahid Jameel, Virologist and Director, Trivedi School of Biosciences at Ashoka University to understand what the news meant for us - will the vaccine reach India? To put it bluntly, Dr Jameel said, “Don’t get too happy that this vaccine will reach us In India in the near future. It won’t.”

He added that the cold chain challenges and the need for the vaccine to be stored at near -94 degrees Fahrenheit pose a huge problem for India.

He said, “A word of caution here. This vaccine requires ultra-cold temperatures to be stored in - near -94 degree F in supercooled containers. This creates immense challenges as far as the distribution and cold chain for the vaccine is concerned. Therefore, it is certainly not a vaccine with which you can think of immunising a lot of people in India because India just doesn’t have the infrastructure for this kind of a cold chain. Perhaps, some very rich people who can afford to pay a lot of money may be able to afford it, that too if the vaccine finally becomes available in India.”

Read more about India’s vaccine distribution plans here.

(With inputs from BBC)

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