BioNTech

Margaret Keenan, a 90-year-old grandmother, on Tuesday became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer NSE -0.33 % COVID-19 vaccine shot outside of a trial as Britain began vaccinating its population.
Great Britain is the first Western country to start vaccinating its general population today.

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".

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.

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.

Berlin/Ljubljana – Health Minister Tomaž Gantar attended a video conference with EU counterparts on Wednesday discussing the current state of the coronavirus pandemic and the proposed EU strategy for a coronavirus vaccine. He stressed more cooperation and coordination was need at the EU level.