Why Nonagenarian Chosen for Covid-19 Vaccine Drive in UK?

The entire year 2020 has been dominated by novel coronavirus, leaving the world in peril. However, the year is ending with the invention of coronavirus vaccine. The mass immunization campaign kicked-off in UK with inoculation of a 90-year-old woman, who became the first person to get Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.

United Kingdom has become the first country in the world to start a mass coronavirus vaccine campaign.

The British woman, Margaret Kenan, who is from Northern Ireland, received the first jab on Tuesday.

The pharmaceutical company Pfizer is claiming that its Covid-19 vaccine is 95% effective without any side effects.

BREAKING: The UK’s mass vaccination programme against Covid-19 has begun.
90-year-old Margaret Keenan is the first person to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
More on #BBCBreakfast and here: https://t.co/uHArc9LQVJ pic.twitter.com/ecxdeGRHfz

— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) December 8, 2020

Why Margaret Kenan was chosen to initiate the mass vaccine campaign?

The selection of the nonagenarian sparked a debate on the social media with people having mixed reactions over the selection. However, the main reason lies behind is that the risk of contracting the pathogen increases with the age.

The virus can escalate rapidly in the elderly and they can outspread it.

Dr Seemi Jamali, Executive Director at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), told News360 that the main reason for administering vaccine shots to the elderly on priority is their physical weakness.

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“Old people lack immunity that is why they at a higher risk than others”, She maintained.

To determine the effectiveness of the vaccine, it was crucial to test it on people with low immunity, she added further.

So far, the death toll in the UK from Covid-19 is currently at 62,000 while number of positive patients has exceeded 1.7 million. Margaret Kenan is one of 400,000 lucky people who will be given vaccine shots in the first batch of 800,000 doses. She will receive a booster jab in next 21 days.