'V-Day': A year after COVID-19 pandemic began in China, UK is first in West to start vaccinations

LONDON – A year after a mysterious new respiratory disease emerged in Wuhan, China, upending patterns of life and work, the United Kingdom on Tuesday became the first Western country to start vaccinating its population against a virus that has killed more than 1.5 million people worldwide and sickened tens of millions more. 

In a landmark moment in the coronavirus pandemic, dozens of hospitals in the U.K.'s state-run National Health Service started administering the COVID-19 inoculation to people over 80 who are either hospitalized or have outpatient appointments scheduled. Some nursing home workers also received the vaccine. 

Others will have to wait their turn.

The first recipient of the shot was grandmother Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week. She received the shot at University Hospital Coventry at 6:31 a.m. (1:31 a.m. EDT).

"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," Keenan said. She is originally from Northern Ireland. 

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She said she felt extremely "privileged to be the first person vaccinated against COVID-19." A video released by the hospital showed her being wheeled down a hospital ward while nurses and health staff lining the hallways applauded and cheered. 

"It's the best thing that has ever happened," she said.  

The second person in the world to receive Pfizer/BioNTech's vaccine shares the same name as the U.K.'s most famous poet and playwright.

William Shakespeare, 81, is known to friends and family as "Bill." And, in a further remarkable and unlikely twist of fate, University Hospital Coventry is not far from Stratford-upon-Avon, where the 16th-century writer was born.

Shakespeare said he was "pleased" to get the shot. 

Americans could start receiving the shots within days. Federal regulators are meeting this week to discuss its emergency use authorization. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday morning released a 53-page report summarizing data from Pfizer/BioNTech's COVID-19 candidate vaccine trial. The data supports earlier findings that the vaccine is safe and will prevent 95% of people from becoming sick with COVID-19.

Other details of the U.K. rollout for Pfizer/BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine, dubbed "V-Day" or "Victory Day" by Health Secretary Matt Hancock – a reference typically used to commemorate the Allied victories in World War II – were still emerging.

The first doses of the highly anticipated coronavirus shots reached the U.K. on Thursday night after traveling through the Eurotunnel that connects the U.K. to continental Europe from Belgium, where the vaccination was manufactured. The first shipments of the vaccine were delivered to a selected group of U.K. hospitals on Sunday.

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Vaccination is not mandatory, and it is free. 

Simon Stevens, CEO of the U.K.'s National Health Service, said he hoped the vaccination's deployment Tuesday would mark "a decisive turning point in the battle against coronavirus."

Chris Whitty, the U.K.'s chief health adviser, called it a "great day for medical science, and the future."

The U.K. has ordered 40 million doses, or enough for 20 million people – about a third of the population – because two doses, three to four weeks apart, are required. Because of intense global demand, the U.K. has been given 800,000 doses to begin with.

Rolling out the vaccine comes with logistical complications connected to the way the vaccine needs to be stored: ultra-cold, at minus 70 Celsius (minus 94 Fahrenheit). It's mostly hospitals that typically have the facilities to store the vaccine at that temperature. 

Authorities are focusing on large-scale distribution points like hospitals because each package of vaccine contains 975 doses, and they don’t want any to be wasted.

The bulk of the U.K.'s vaccination program is expected to take place next year.

The U.K. approved the vaccine for general use faster than any other Western country, a move that has drawn some skepticism from public health officials, including the top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In an interview with the BBC, Fauci apologized after he earlier appeared to suggest during a segment on Fox News that the U.K. "rushed" the vaccine and regulators did not review it "as carefully" as in the U.S. 

"Our process is one that takes more time than in the U.K. And that's just the reality," Fauci told the BBC. "I did not mean to imply any sloppiness even though it came out that way." 

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the U.K.'s federal regulator, said it approved the vaccine after it "rigorously assessed the data in the shortest time possible, without compromising the thoroughness of our review."

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Still, the U.S. is hard on the heels of the U.K. in terms of its rollout of Pfizer/BioNTech's vaccine, as well as one manufactured by Moderna. Researchers have found both vaccines up to 95% effective with no serious side effects. 

The FDA could approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine as soon as Thursday, when it is due to meet to discuss its emergency use authorization.

FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said last week that the U.K. was able to approve Pfizer/BioNTech's vaccine so quickly because its regulators rely much more heavily on vaccine data provided by the drug companies. The same applies to European Union regulators. Hahn said the FDA "is one of the few regulatory agencies in the world that actually looks at the raw data."

Russia has already begun a mass rollout of its own Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine after it began vaccinating thousands of doctors, teachers and others at dozens of centers in Moscow on Saturday. China is making final preparations to widely distribute Chinese company Sinovac’s vaccine. 

Both countries say their vaccines have shown similar levels of efficacy and safety as the Western ones. But they have done so before completing late-stage clinical trials.

The U.K. last week became the first country in Europe to pass 60,000 deaths from COVID-19. The U.S. is swiftly approaching 300,000 deaths.

Intensive care doctor Ami Jones was one of the first people to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in Gwent, in southeast Wales, about 120 miles from London.

Jones said she felt "very lucky" to receive her shot and urged people to continue following COVID-19 prevention guidelines.

"Please have yours when you are offered it and please keep social-distancing, face-mask-wearing and staying in your bubbles. The end of this is in sight, but it’s still some distance away, and hospitals are busier than ever." 

Contributing: Joshua Searle of the South Wales Argus

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