By: Neil Arwin Mercado – Reporter / INQUIRER.net /December 08, 2020
MANILA, Philippines — The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine given to the 90-year old British woman, who is deemed the first person to get inoculated outside clinical trials, was administered by a Filipina nurse.
In a tweet, the British ambassador to the Philippines and Palau, Daniel Pruce, said Filipina nurse May Parsons administered the vaccine to 90-year old Margaret Keenan.
Pruce thanked Filipino healthcare workers for their “enormous contribution” in the country’s fight against COVID-19.
“A fantastic moment! And great to see that the vaccine is administered by Nurse May Parsons from the Philippines – one of the many thousands of Filipino healthcare workers making such an enormous contribution to the #NHS (National Health Service,” Pruce said in a tweet.
In a report by The Irish Times, Parsons was quoted as saying that it was a “huge honour” to be the first in the country to deliver the vaccine to a patient.
The UK was the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use.
In the Philippines, COVID-19 cases surged to 442,000 as of Tuesday, December 8.
The Department of Health (DOH) said the total COVID-19 cases in the country is now at 442,785—of which 25,325 remain active.
