UK health authorities today released the first doses of Covid-19 vaccine, kicking off a global immunization program that is expected to be boosted as more sera are approved.
The first dose was administered at one of the hospitals in a chain spread across the country, where the initial phase of the program has already been dubbed V-Day, health officials announced.
The first person in the UK to receive the covid-19 vaccine, developed by the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its German associate BioNTech, was a 90-year-old woman.
Margaret Keenan was filmed while being vaccinated at around 06:30 (GMT) - at Coventry University Hospital in central England.
British regulators last week gave the green light to this vaccine, which from today will start to be administered to risk groups in the United Kingdom.
The country made this advance in the vaccination project, after, on December 2, British regulators gave emergency authorization for the vaccine produced by the American drug manufacturer Pfizer and the German company BioNTech.
US and European Union officials are also reviewing the vaccine, alongside other “rival” preparations developed by the American biotechnology company Modern, and for a collaboration between the University of Oxford and the drug maker AstraZeneca.
On Saturday, Russia began vaccinating thousands of doctors, teachers and other high-risk groups in dozens of centers in Moscow with its Sputnik V vaccine.
This program is being looked at differently, as Russia has authorized the use of the vaccine in vVron, after having been tested on just a few dozen people.
The first shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were delivered on Sunday to a select group of UK hospitals.
At one of these facilities, Croydon University Hospital, south of London, staff members were not even able to touch the bottles, but were thrilled to have them only in the building.
The vaccine will not arrive as quickly as would be desirable in the UK, which has more than 61.000 deaths – more than any other country in Europe – and more than 1,7 million cases of Covid-19.
The 800.000 doses are only a fraction of what is needed. The Government is targeting more than 25 million people, about 40% of the population, in the first phase of its vaccination program, giving priority to those most at risk of contracting the disease.
The second group will be that of people over 80 and workers in homes. The program will be expanded as the offer increases.
In England, the vaccine will be delivered to 50 hospital centers in the first phase of the program, with more hospitals expected to make it available as the program develops.
Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are making their own plans under the UK's decentralized administration system.
Logistical issues are delaying the distribution of the Pfizer vaccine, because it has to be stored at a very low negative temperature: -70 degrees Celsius (-94 degrees Fahrenheit).
The authorities are also focusing on distribution points on a large scale because each vaccine package contains 975 doses and does not want any to be missed.
The United Kingdom has agreed to buy millions of doses from seven different producers.
Governments around the world are making deals with multiple creators to ensure that products that are eventually approved for widespread use are delivered.
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