Pinoy nurse gives first COVID-19 shot in UK
MANILA, Philippines — A Filipino nurse made history after she became the first healthcare worker to administer the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine outside of clinical trials in the United Kingdom.
May Parsons, who has been working for the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) for 24 years, gave the shot to 90-year-old Margaret Keenan, the first patient to receive the vaccine which has been reported to have a 90% efficacy rate.
Parsons was quoted by the Irish Times as saying that it was a “huge honor” to be the first in the UK to deliver the vaccine to a patient.
“I’m just glad that I’m able to play a part in this historic day,” she was quoted in the report. “The last few months have been tough for all of us working in the NHS, but now it feels like there is light at the end of the tunnel.”
In a tweet, UK Ambassador to the Philippines Daniel Pruce recognized Parsons as “one of the many thousands of Filipino healthcare workers making such an enormous contribution to the NHS.”
Keenan, the first ever patient to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech shot outside of clinical trials, was quoted by the BBC as thanking Parsons and the NHS staff for looking after her and advising everyone to get themselves vaccinated against COVID-19.
“If I can have it at 90 then you can have it too,” she said.
UK regulators approved the Pfizer/BioNTech shot for widespread use last week. The UK’s NHS is beginning to roll it out to the public in the largest vaccination drive in its history.
Meanwhile, a vaccine still remains out of reach in Parsons’ home country. The Philippines has only so far secured 2.6 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through the help of some 30 private firms, but regulators have not yet approved its use.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. has said that the country is in “advanced talks” with China’s SInovac and Russia’s Gamaleya Institute to procure their shots against the coronavirus, which has infected more than 441,000 people and killed more than 8,000 in the Philippines. — Xave Gregorio
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