"It’s the best early birthday gift I could wish for" says 90-year-old after getting first jab of COVID-19 vaccine in UK

A 90-year-old grandmother named Margaret Keenan has become the first person to get a COVID-19 vaccine as part of a mass immunisation project in the UK, kicking off a global programme that is expected to gain momentum.

On what has been dubbed “V-Day” in the UK, Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, was given the jab at University Hospital Coventry at 6:31 a.m.

Staff praised her after she had taken the first dose. Keenan said she felt “so privileged to be the first person treated against Covid-19.”

“It’s the best early birthday gift I could wish for because it means I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and colleagues in the New Year after being on my own for most of the year,” she said.

The first phase of the programme is being rolled out at a network of hospital hubs throughout the country. The first 800,000 doses are going to people over 80 who are either in the clinic or already have outpatient meetings scheduled, along with nursing home workers.

Public health workers are urging the public to be calm because only those who are most at risk from COVID-19 will be vaccinated in the early stages. Medical staff will contact patients to arrange meetings, and most will have to wait until next year.

For Professor Peter Openshaw, a world-renowned immunology expert from Imperial College London, it's a meaningful morning.

"I think it's absolutely fantastic that we've got from the first detection of the virus to the first injections of an approved vaccine within less than a year," he told Euronews. "I think it's an unusual offering to the speed with which science can work, and also the rate with which controls and politicians, the funders, everyone can work together to arrive at this point."