BIONTECH

A 90-year-old woman has become the first person to be given a Covid jab as part of the mass vaccination programme being rolled out across the UK.

Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, said it was the "best early birthday present".

British health authorities rolled out the first doses of a widely tested and independently reviewed COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 8, starting a global immunization program that is expected to gain momentum as more serums win approval.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Dec. 7 praised Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci - both children of Turkish immigrants in Germany - for developing a vaccine against the novel coronavirus.

Speaking to German radio Metropol FM, Merkel said Şahin and Türeci, who are married, made a foundational contribution to science with their company BioNTech, alongside U.S. pharmaceutical firm Pfizer.

Shipments of the coronavirus vaccine developed by American drugmaker Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech were delivered on Dec. 6 in the U.K. in super-cold containers, two days before it goes public in an immunization program that is being closely watched around the world.

The United States notched a record number of coronavirus cases in 24 hours for the third day running, as it was reported that Britain's Queen Elizabeth II will get a vaccine within weeks.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he will get vaccinated against COVID-19, in a move intended to boost public confidence in the safety and efficacy of the jab that is hoped to bring an end to the pandemic.

Former U.S. Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton said they were willing to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus on television in order to ease any public skepticism over the safety of new vaccines.

Ljubljana – The Health Ministry has revealed some details about the Covid-19 vaccination plan for Slovenia, under which vaccination will be free of charge and available to all residents regardless of their heath insurance status. Vaccines for around 50,000 residents are expected to be available in the first phase.

Pfizer Inc's chief executive, Albert Bourla, said on Wednesday he was confident that by the end of 2021 there would be more vaccine doses than required to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

His remarks came after Britain approved a vaccine produced by Pfizer and its German biotechnology partner BioNTech on Wednesday. The two companies say their vaccine is 95% effective.

Britain on Dec. 2 became the first western country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine for general use, while Japan and Italy pledged free inoculations for all even as the global death toll rose towards 1.5 million.