London: Dr Hari Shukla, 87 and his wife Ranjan, 83-year-old wife from the northeast of England on Tuesday became the first Indian-origin couple in the world to get a vaccine against COVID-19. They got injected with their first of two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab at a hospital in Newcastle, The New Indian Express (TNIE) reported quoting PTI.
“Hari Shukla and his wife Ranjan have become the first two patients at Newcastle Hospitals, and two of the first people in the world to receive the COVID-19 vaccine,” Newcastle Hospitals National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust was quoted as saying.
Ninety-year-old Margaret Keenan from Coventry and 81-year-old William Shakespeare in Warwickshire were the first and second persons respectively to have received the jab.
“I’m so pleased we are hopefully coming towards the end of this pandemic and I am delighted to be doing my bit by having the vaccine, I feel it is my duty to do so and do whatever I can to help,” Shukla, who was born in Kenya and whose father hailed from Mumbai was quoted as saying in the report.
“Today marks a huge step forward in the UK’s fight against coronavirus, as we begin delivering the vaccine to the first patients across the whole country. I am immensely proud of the scientists who developed the vaccine, members of the public who took part in trials, and the NHS who have worked tirelessly to prepare for rollout,” British Prime Minister Prime Johnson was quoted as saying.
