Margaret Keenan (90) discharged from hospital one day after becoming first person in world to receive Covid-19 vaccine

A 90-year-old grandmother who became the first person in the world to have the Pfizer vaccine has been discharged from hospital.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

The face of Margaret Keenan – known as Maggie – has been making news around the world after she was given the coronavirus jab at University Hospital Coventry on Tuesday.

Mrs Keenan, who has lived in Coventry for more than 60 years but is originally from Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, had been admitted to the hospital a few days before her jab.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Speaking immediately after receiving the vaccine, administered by matron May Parsons, the retired jewellery store assistant told of the “great opportunity” of being offered the jab, and urged others to follow suit

Margaret Keenan, 90, the first patient in the United Kingdom to receive the Pfizer/BioNtech covid-19 vaccine, with Healthcare assistant Lorraine Hill, preparing to leave University Hospital, Coventry, Warwickshire, the day after receiving the first of two doses of the vaccine.Margaret Keenan, 90, the first patient in the United Kingdom to receive the Pfizer/BioNtech covid-19 vaccine, with Healthcare assistant Lorraine Hill, preparing to leave University Hospital, Coventry, Warwickshire, the day after receiving the first of two doses of the vaccine.
Margaret Keenan, 90, the first patient in the United Kingdom to receive the Pfizer/BioNtech covid-19 vaccine, with Healthcare assistant Lorraine Hill, preparing to leave University Hospital, Coventry, Warwickshire, the day after receiving the first of two doses of the vaccine.

She said: “I can’t thank May and the NHS staff enough who have looked after me tremendously, and my advice to anyone offered the vaccine is to take it – if I can have it at 90, then you can have it too.

“Hopefully it’ll help other people come along and do what I did, and try and do the best to get rid of this terrible thing.”

Mrs Keenan, who marks her 91st birthday next week, was one of about 100 people vaccinated on the first day of the rollout at Coventry.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The second person to have the injection was 81-year-old William “Bill” Shakespeare, an in-patient on the hospital’s frailty wards from Coventry who, appropriately, is local to his namesake’s county of birth Warwickshire.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.