Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Landmark Day In West As UK Delivers Its First COVID Vaccine Shots
The Washington Post: Britain Begins Pfizer Vaccine Shots, Launching The West’s First Mass Coronavirus Inoculation Effort
It took barely a second. She rolled up her sleeve and Britain's Margaret Keenan became on Tuesday the first person to receive the Pfizer vaccine shot outside of clinical trials, as the first mass immunization campaign in the West began. The 90-year-old grandmother received her jab, as the Brits would say, at University Hospital in Coventry, England at 6:31 a.m. local time. The nurse, May Parsons, told her to relax her arm. (Booth and Adam, 12/8)
USA Today: 'V-Day': A Year After COVID-19 Pandemic Began In China, U.K. First To Start Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccinations
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, around 50 hospitals in the U.K.'s state-run National Health Service (NHS) 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. (Hjelmgaard, 12/8)
AP: 'Turning Point': UK Giving 1st Doses Of COVID-19 Vaccine
The first shot was given to Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, at University Hospital Coventry, one of several hospitals around the country that are handling the initial phase of the program on what has been dubbed “V-Day.” “I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against COVID-19,” said the former jewelry shop assistant, who wore a surgical mask and a blue Merry Christmas T-shirt decorated with a cartoon penguin wearing a Santa hat and red scarf. “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.” (Kirka, 12/8)
The Wall Street Journal: U.K. Begins Rollout Of Pfizer’s Covid-19 Vaccine In A First For The West
Those over 80, nursing-home workers and other high-risk health-care staff were front of the line: a group estimated to number six million. The rollout is being paid for by the U.K.’s state-funded National Health Service. Hari Shukla, 87 years old and one of the first to be inoculated at a hospital in Newcastle, northeastern England, said the two-shot vaccine made him and his wife feel that the crisis was going to come to an end. “When I received the telephone call I was very excited that I got the opportunity of taking part and joining in,” Mr. Shukla told the British Broadcasting Corp. on the eve of the rollout. (Sugden and Horner, 12/8)
Reuters: In England, William Shakespeare Receives A COVID-19 Vaccine
William Shakespeare from Warwickshire in England was one of the first people to receive the newly approved COVID-19 vaccine outside a clinical trial on Tuesday. The 81-year-old had the injection at University Hospital Coventry on Tuesday, 20 miles from Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of his namesake, England’s greatest dramatist and poet. (12/8)
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The New York Times: U.K. Coronavirus Vaccine: Side Effects, Safety, And Who Gets It First
Britain’s National Health Service began delivering shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Tuesday, opening a public health campaign with little precedent in modern medicine and making Britons the first people in the world to receive an authorized, fully tested vaccine. Here’s a guide to some of the basics. (Mueller and Zimmer, 12/8)
Bloomberg: Pfizer, Astra Shots To Be Combined In U.K. Covid Vaccine Trials
Even as it begins the first Covid immunizations with a shot from Pfizer Inc., the U.K. plans to test it in combination with another vaccine from AstraZeneca Plc. Studies aimed at determining whether using the two jabs together can enhance immunity are planned for next year, according to the U.K. Vaccine Taskforce. The group disclosed the plans as it published a report on its work so far, including deals for 357 million doses from seven makers and investments in three sites to expand the nation’s manufacturing capacity. (Ring, 12/8)
