It’s here! South London’s first Covid-19 vaccine recipients hail Pfizer/BioNTech jab

By Sian Bayley, Local Democracy Reporter

St George’s Hospital in Tooting administered its first coronavirus vaccines this morning.

The very first patient was Tharmini Gopalakrishnan, 60, who works in a local care home.

She was given the jab by Arezou Rezvani, who is a member of the hospital’s vaccination team.

Later on, Afshan, who works in a care home in Wimbledon, was given the jab.

In a video posted on the hospital’s Twitter page, she said: “I think it’s very important to protect myself, to protect the residents I work with, and even my family and anybody else that I meet outside in the shops and in the streets.

“It’s a quick, painless jab, it doesn’t take long, a quick trip to St George’s Hospital. It’s been fantastic, doesn’t hurt and I highly recommend it for anybody that’s eligible for it.”

Another lady called Theresa said she felt “privileged” to be one of the first to have the vaccine this morning.

She added: “I really don’t think people should be afraid of the vaccine, they should go for it, there’s absolutely nothing to it. It’s been such an exciting day, everything has been so professional and done professionally.”

St George’s is one of 50 hubs across the country working to provide the first wave of vaccinations.

Hospital and NHS staff  have been working over the weekend to prepare the sites and accept deliveries.

First in line for the Pfizer vaccine will be people aged 80 and over, as well as care home workers and high risk NHS workers.

The hospital has stressed that staff will contact patients when it’s the right time to come forward and have asked people not to contact or attend the hospital to seek a vaccine before then.

At 6:31am this morning, Margaret Keenan, 90, became the first person in the world to be given the Pfizer Covid-19 jab as part of a mass vaccination programme.

Pictured top: Arezou Rezvani