Report from Tribunnews.com Journalist, Srihandriatmo Malau
TRIBUNNEWS.COM, LONDON – English started injecting its citizens with vaccines AstraZeneca/Oxford on Monday (4/1/2021) local time.
The injection was given to Brian Pinker, one dialysis patients 82 years old, in a hospital hundreds of meters from where the vaccine was developed.
Pinker, a retired maintenance manager, pays tribute to the scientists who have developed it the Covid-19 vaccine, and said he couldn’t wait to celebrate his wedding anniversary.
“I am very pleased to have the Covid-19 vaccine today and really proud it was found in Oxford,” he said in a statement released by the health department. Reuters, Tuesday (5/1/2021).
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“The nurses, doctors and staff, today, were all brilliant and I can now really look forward to celebrating my 48th wedding anniversary with my wife Shirley later this year,” he said.
The UK has ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford / AstraZeneca-made vaccine, and launched a vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.
Sam Foster, Chief Nurse at Oxford University Hospital, spoke of his pride in delivering the first dose of the Oxford vaccine outside of clinical trials.
“It is a real privilege to be able to deliver the first Oxford Vaccine at Churchill Hospital here in Oxford, just a few hundred meters from where it was developed,” he said.
“We hope to vaccinate more patients and health and care staff,” he said.
Andrew Pollard, Head of the Oxford Vaccine Team and chief injection of investigators in the trial also received the vaccine.
He said with a record number of daily cases, the next few weeks would be a challenge, despite the optimism provided by the Oxford vaccine launch.
“This is a very critical moment. We are in a state of depression due to the disease,” he told BBC TV.
“I think the vaccine gives us a little hope, but I think we have a few difficult weeks ahead,” he said. (Reuters)
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