LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Britain's 90-year-old Margaret Keenan became the first person in the world to get coronavirus vaccine after completing clinical trials.
The nonagenarian was given the vaccine through injection at University Hospital in Coventry as part of the mass vaccination program launched in the United Kingdom Tuesday.
'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,' said Keenan, who turns 91 next week.
The United Kingdom is the first Western country in the world to start mass vaccination program against the pandemic.
UK is rolling out the vaccine manufactured by U.S. pharma giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.
The anti-COVID-19 vaccine BNT162b2 received temporary authorization for emergency use in the U.K. last week, marking the first authorization in the world for a vaccine against the pandemic.
It is the beginning of the end of the pandemic, according to UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
Health workers will be one of the first to get the vaccine.
The UK government is in deal with Pfizer for around 40 million doses of the vaccine.
Meanwhile, Canada entered into a deal with Pfizer to start early delivery of doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed in a tweet. The country expects to receive up to 249,000 of initial doses of the vaccine this month.
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