NEWCASTLE, UK (TIP): 87-year-old Hari Shukla is an Indian-origin man from the north east of England. He will become one of the first people in the world to get a vaccine against COVID-19 when he receives his Pfizer/BioNTech jab at a hospital in Newcastle on Tuesday. Hari Shukla from Tyne and Wear said he feels it is his duty to receive his first of the two-dose vaccine. “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,” said Shukla.

Shukla was notified by the UK health authorities on the criteria set by the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization as part of a phased rollout plan based on those at the highest risk of death from the deadly virus. People aged 80 and over, care home workers as well as NHS workers who are at higher risk will be first in line to receive the “life-saving jab”.

UK will vaccinate people over-80s and frontline health and care staff receiving from today. The NHS said it is undertaking the biggest and most highly anticipated immunization campaign in history at 50 hospital hubs, with more starting vaccinations over the coming weeks and months as the program ramps up after the first set of doses arrived from Pfizer’s manufacturing site in Belgium.

Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine got the green light from the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) last week. The Pfizer/BioNTech formula is an mRNA vaccine that uses a tiny fragment of genetic code from the pandemic virus to teach the body how to fight Covid-19 and build immunity. It is delivered in two doses of 21 days apart and, according to experts, it has shown a strong immunity response kicking in after seven days of the second dose. The Pfizer vaccine needs to be stored at -70C before being thawed out and can only be moved four times within that cold chain before being used.