Sun 06 December 2020:
After the United Kingdom became the first country to authorize the use of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is set to receive the vaccine ”within weeks”.
The monarch, 94, and her 99-year-old husband Prince Philip will get the vaccine dose early due to their age, but will not receive any preferential treatment. Instead, the senior royals will wait in line during the first wave of injections reserved for over 80s and care home residents.
Britain’s Public Health Experts said that if the royal couple would go public about taking COVID-19 vaccine, it could help to combat the misinformation about the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
As per the local media reports, discussions are currently underway about the potential roles that could be played by Prince Charles and Prince William in publicising the vaccination program.
According to the criteria set by the Britain authorities, those aged 80 or above and frontline health care staff will be the first to get inoculated. After them, other elderly people and the clinically extremely vulnerable people will be the next to receive the vaccine shot. The rest of the population will then be prioritized according to their age.
The UK on December 2 became the first country in the world to approve Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine candidate for widespread use. The British regulator, MHRA has said that the mRNA-based vaccine that has shown 95 per cent efficacy, is safe for mass roll out with immunisations in the country starting “early next week” among the high priority groups. Britain has reportedly already placed an order of 40 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine to provide the double-dose immunisation to at least 20 million people.
