Scientists also worry that vaccine disparities will breed more dangerous strains that pose a risk to all nations. Since Keenan’s moment, many developed nations, including the U.K., have immunized the majority of their populations.īut the rollout over the past year hasn’t been smooth, partly due to delivery snags and very rare but potentially serious side effects that have fueled hesitancy in some quarters. China had started doling out its own vaccines in the summer of 2020 under an emergency use authorization. Of course, that was never going to work.” What we’ll do is vaccinate everybody, and it will all be fine. But some governments “decided they were going to vaccinate their way out of the pandemic. “Vaccines are a major miracle of modern science,” said Sarah Pitt, a virologist at the University of Brighton in England. It’s put the world on edge, leaving everyone desperately waiting for information on the severity of the strain and how well vaccines will work against it.

Cases have quadrupled in the past year, vast parts of the globe haven't gained access to vaccines and concerning variants keep emerging, bringing new waves of infections, the return of lockdowns and restrictions on travel.Īnd now, two years into the pandemic, there is omicron, a heavily mutated variant that emerged in recent weeks. In Europe alone, research shows they’ve saved about half a million lives among people age 60 and over.īut they haven’t vanquished the virus. The vaccines - not just from Pfizer but also Moderna Inc., AstraZeneca Plc, Johnson & Johnson and others - have slashed hospitalizations and deaths in countries where they’ve been rolled out widely. Now, after 8 billion doses, the impact is clear. It was a turning point in the pandemic, raising hopes that there was a path out of the crisis, along with questions about how well the rapidly-created shots would perform. Keenan became the first person in the world to receive Pfizer Inc.’s Covid vaccine outside a clinical trial.

(Bloomberg) - One year ago, a grandmother named Margaret Keenan, then 90 years old, rolled up her sleeve at University Hospital Coventry in the English midlands to take her place in history.

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