A 91-year-old pensioner last night became a national treasure after admitting he was late for his Covid-19 vaccine appointment because he ‘couldn’t find anywhere to damn well park’ on the first day of the biggest-ever mass immunisation programme in British history.
Martin Kenyon spoke about receiving the breakthrough Pfizer/BioNTech jab at Guy’s Hospital in Southwark, London, on V-Day yesterday with CNN anchor Cyril Vanier – including how he had a ‘rather nasty lunch’ before showing a ‘very unexciting’ card provided to him by the hospital.
Discussing how he came about to getting the vaccine, Mr Kenyon said: ‘I rang up Guy’s Hospital which I know very well because I’ve lived in London most of my grown-up life, and I said ‘what’s this thing you’re doing, the vaccination’ and they said ‘yes’ and then they spent various times asking me questions about this and that, not very interesting.
‘I said ‘yes, no, yes, no’ and they said well come at 12.30pm. Well of course I couldn’t find anywhere to damn well park my car so I was late. Anyway I’m here now and I got inside and they duly put me on the list.
‘I went off and had a rather nasty lunch and then came back and they were ready for me. And no it didn’t hurt at all – I didn’t know the needle had gone in until it had come out. It was very interesting. No it was painless.’
On whether it was a ‘quick in and out for the needle, like any vaccination’, he commented: ‘Exactly, well vaccinations aren’t very common are they, one has inoculations.’
Mr Kenyon also said he hopes not to get the ‘bloody bug’ now, adding: ‘I don’t intend to have it because I have granddaughters and I intend to live a long time to enjoy their lives.’ He then showed a card provided to him by the hospital with his name and details for a follow-up appointment, saying: ‘It’s got my name on it and that’s about it. Very unexciting.’
On being able to hug his family once he’s immune to the virus, the pensioner said: ‘Well there’s no point in dying now when I’ve lived this long is there? I don’t plan to anyway.’
Yesterday the NHS embarked on its colossal plan to vaccinate the entire population against coronavirus by rolling out the UK’s new weapon in the war on Covid at 50 hospital sites to the over-80s, the vulnerable and at-risk frontline hospital and care home staff.
Last night thousands of elderly British patients urged vaccine sceptics to have the jab for the good of the country as health bosses prepared for a delivery of more than a million doses of the Pfizer vaccine next week.
The national vaccination drive was launched at 70 UK hospitals, with most doses given to the over-80s. Margaret Keenan, a Coventry grandmother, was first in line, declaring: ‘If I can have it at 90, then you can have it too.’
Lyn Wheeler, 81, who was given the Pfizer jab in front of Boris Johnson at Guy’s in London, called for everyone to do their duty so normal life can resume. ‘It’s all for Britain,’ she added. ‘I’m going for it because I feel there’s no other way forward. We can’t keep sitting in our houses.’
An initial 800,000 doses are being rolled out in the coming days and Health Secretary Matt Hancock has promised millions more before Christmas.
In other coronavirus news:
- Holidays abroad were given the green light for next summer by officials;
- Care homes were told to expect doses of the vaccine by Christmas;
- Mr Hancock appeared to well up on live TV as he described his pride at the rollout;
- The Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine was found to be ‘safe and effective’ in a major study in the Lancet;
- However regulators face a decision over whether to approve the vaccine with a low-dose initial injection;
- US regulators inched closer to approving the Pfizer jab for the most vulnerable;
- Mr Johnson appeared to issue a warning about London following a rise in infection rates, sparking fears it could be plunged into Tier Three next week;
- Chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance warned the public may still be wearing face masks a year from now;
- Schools may be allowed to take an inset day on the last Friday of term so stressed teachers can have a ‘proper break’;
- A further 616 people died of coronavirus, taking the total to 62,033. Another 12,282 cases were confirmed.

Martin Kenyon, 91, pictured during the interview, in which he spoke about receiving Pfizer’s jab at Guy’s Hospital in Southwark, London, with CNN’s Cyril Vanier

The British pensioner has gone viral for his charming tale, telling how he was late for the 12.30pm appointment because he ‘couldn’t find anywhere to damn well park’


The moment Margaret Keenan, 90, became the first patient in the United Kingdom to receive the Pfizer/BioNtech covid-19 vaccine at University Hospital, Coventry, administered by nurse May Parsons, at the start of the largest ever immunisation programme in the UK’s history. ‘Bill’ William Shakespeare, 81 also received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine

In a watershed moment, an emotional Mrs Keenan is clapped from the ward after she was vaccinated on the eve of her 91st birthday

Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks to to Lyn Wheeler before she received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Guy’s Hospital in London. Mr Johnson was in intensive care at the same trust as he fought Covid earlier this year

An initial 800,000 doses are being rolled out in the coming days and Health Secretary Matt Hancock has promised millions more before Christmas. In other developments. Pictured: Mr Hancock became emotional and appeared to wipe tears from his eyes while being interviewed on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Tuesday
CNN’s Oliver Darcy tweeted the footage, posting: ‘This interview wins the day’.
Many social media users commented on the stereotypical Britishness of Mr Kenyon, while others labelled him a ‘national treasure’. One person wrote: ‘Martin Kenyon is a national treasure in the UK now. I hope he can do a cameo on the next season of The Crown!’
Another tweeted: ‘I rang up at half past twelve and said what’s all this I’ve heard about a vaccination?’
TV host Jeremy Vine added: ‘This is Peak British right here. Martin Kenyon has just had the vaccination — sorry, inoculation. Could almost be a Monty Python sketch. Lovely man.’
A fourth wrote: ‘What a charming man. At 91 drove himself to the hospital in London, arranged to get the vaccination, had a ‘nasty lunch’, got inoculated, received a card as proof, and has no intention of dying now. Yes, interview wins the day.’
At least 5,000 people were inoculated – around 100 people in each centre – with 800,000 doses of the Pfizer /BioNtech vaccine already in the country as the UK’s vaccine chief Kate Bingham predicted that in 2021 ‘we will all be going on summer holidays’.
The next to get the jab was William Shakespeare, 81, from near Stratford-upon-Avon – the Bard’s home town – who appeared so relaxed many joked that to him, being the second person in the world to be vaccinated was ‘much ado about nothing’.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he was emotional as he watched Mrs Keenan getting the jab after a grim 2020, and cried on Good Morning Britain as Mr Shakespeare hailed the ‘ground-breaking’ jab that will ‘start changing our lives’.
Mr Hancock wiped away tears as he told Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid: ‘It’s been such a tough year for so many people and there’s William Shakespeare putting it simply for everybody that we can get on with our lives’.
But in a gloomy warning for Britain he added: ‘There’s still a few months to go, I’ve still got this worry that we can’t blow it now Piers, we’ve still got to get the vaccine to millions of people so we’ve got to keep sticking to the rules, there’s so much work gone into this – it makes me proud to be British’.
Later in the Commons a more composed Mr Hancock gave a statement to MPs on the vaccine’s rollout and joined in on the Shakespeare puns, declaring: ‘If you prick us, do we not bleed?’
Boris Johnson, who watched people getting vaccinated at Guy’s Hospital yesterday, said: ‘It’s a shot in the arm for the entire nation, but we can’t afford to relax now’.
At 6.30am, wearing a bright blue ‘Merry Christmas’ T-shirt, Mrs Keenan, known as ‘Maggie’ to friends and family, could be seen smiling under her mask as the nurse May Parsons at University Hospital Coventry & Warwickshire injected her with the life-saving medicine.
Mrs Keenan, a former jewellery shop assistant who only retired four years ago, has a daughter, a son and four grandchildren.
She said: ‘I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against Covid-19, it’s the best early birthday present I could wish for because it means I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the New Year after being on my own for most of the year.
‘I can’t thank May and the NHS staff enough who have looked after me tremendously, and my advice to anyone offered the vaccine is to take it – if I can have it at 90 then you can have it too.’

Mr Kenyon pictured showing a card provided to him by the hospital with his name and details for a follow-up appointment, saying: ‘It’s got my name on it and that’s about it. Very unexciting’





Many social media users commented on the stereotypical Britishness of Mr Kenyon, while others labelled him a ‘national treasure’ and a ‘charming man’

Boris Johnson with patient Lyn Wheeler before she received her vaccine at Guy’s in south London

Henry Vokes, 98, celebrates after receiving his jab at Southmead Hospital in Bristol

Belfast: Sister Joanna Sloan (left) becomes the first person in Northern Ireland to receive the first of two Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine jabs, at the Royal Victoria Hospital, in Belfast

Cardiff: David Farrell, 51, from Llandow, a care home worker, became one of the first people in Wales to get the vaccine

Staff at Southmead Hospital take delivery of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine

The vaccine (pictured) has to be stored at minus 70C and can only be transported at elevated temperatures a limited number of times
It came as V-Day heroes last night urged vaccine sceptics to have the Covid jab for the good of the country ahead of the arrival of more than a million more doses of the Pfizer vaccine next week.
Thousands of elderly British patients made history yesterday by being the first in the world to get the injection outside of medical trials.
The national vaccination drive was launched at 70 UK hospitals, with most doses given to the over-80s. Margaret Keenan, a Coventry grandmother, was first in line, declaring: ‘If I can have it at 90, then you can have it too.’
Lyn Wheeler, 81, who was given the Pfizer jab in front of Boris Johnson at Guy’s in London, called for everyone to do their duty so normal life can resume.
‘It’s all for Britain,’ she added. ‘I’m going for it because I feel there’s no other way forward. We can’t keep sitting in our houses.’
The PM said: ‘You have seen Lyn take it, you have seen people take the vaccine in large numbers. There’s nothing to be nervous about. To all those who are scared – don’t be.’
Day one saw around 5,000 people vaccinated, including the elderly, care home staff and NHS workers. An initial 800,000 doses are being rolled out in the coming days and Health Secretary Matt Hancock has promised millions more before Christmas.
NHS bosses were last night told that they would received either 1.2 million or 1.6 million doses of the breakthrough Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine next week, with the remainder of an initial four million arriving the week after.
Writing in the Times Red Box, NHS England medical director Stephen Powis said GP surgeries would ‘join up’ across the country to support hospitals in the delivery of the jab, followed by larger vaccine hubs in key locations.
Hospitals have been told they will be expected to use a minimum of one box of vaccine – 975 doses – during the first week, suggesting a total of almost 70,000.
Designated family doctors have been asked to operate from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week, calling patients in for appointments by phone, message and letter.
Further stocks are due to arrive next week, before being checked and distributed to hospitals and surgeries across the UK from a secret storage facility.
Mr Hancock said he hoped ‘several million’ vulnerable people will have been given the jab by Christmas, paving the way for the easing of coronavirus restrictions by spring. Professor Stephen Powis, medical director of NHS England, hailed yesterday as a turning point for the pandemic.
‘This is the way out of it, the beginning of the end,’ he added. ‘It’s not going to happen tomorrow, it’s not going to happen next week or next month. We still need to socially distance, we need to follow all those restrictions in place.
‘But, in 2021, vaccination programmes will mean we can get back to normality.’
NHS England’s chief executive Simon Stevens said: ‘Less than a year after the first case of this new disease was diagnosed, the NHS has now delivered the first clinically approved Covid-19 vaccination – that is a remarkable achievement.’
Sir Simon also thanked all the scientists, health workers and volunteers who helped with the breakthrough.
US regulators last night confirmed that the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine was strongly protective against Covid-19.
The Food and Drug Administration is expected to give the jab the green light within days, paving the way for thousands of Americans to join Britain’s vaccination efforts.
Coronavirus was involved in a quarter of deaths recorded in the final week of November, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The number of fatalities in England and Wales fell for the first time in more than two months as the lockdown drew toward an end.
Despite the fall in overall deaths, Covid fatalities rose and more people died than has been typical for the same time of the year.
There were 12,456 deaths in the week that ended on November 27 – 79 fewer than in the previous week.

Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of the NHS, watches as a nurse administers the first of two Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine jabs to Frank Naderer, 82, at Guy’s Hospital in London

A member of staff takes a tray containing phials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine out of a fridge as 100 hospitals and NHS sites begin the rollout of the vaccine

Michael Tibbs, 99, receiving COVID vaccine from Liz Rix, Chief Nurse at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth

A huge team of Doctors and Nurses are ready to start vaccinating the Gwent population in South Wales. 300 people will receive the vaccine at a sports centre in Cwmbran

Covid-19 vaccination record card and ‘I’ve had my covid vaccination’ stickers at the Royal Victoria Infirmary. Some are concerned about being told to carry the card at all times
‘If I can do it, so can you’: Stirring message from ‘Super Gran’ aged 90 who’s first to receive vaccine
By Andy Dolan and Claire Duffin for the Daily Mail
The grandmother aged 90 who became the first person to receive the covid vaccine jumped at the chance, her grandson said yesterday.
Conor Maton said despite being just 4ft 10in, Margaret Keenan was a ‘larger than life’ character who wanted to do what she could to help get the country back on track.
And after she had the jab, Mrs Keenan declared: ‘If I can have it at 90 then you can have it too.’

Grandmother Margaret Keenan, aged 90, who became the first person to receive the covid vaccine jumped at the chance, her grandson said yesterday
Mr Maton, 29, said Strictly Come Dancing fan Mrs Keenan was much younger than her years and was working in a jewellers until six years ago before falling ill – not with Covid – and being admitted to hospital a few days ago.
After recovering well, Mrs Keenan, who is due to celebrate her 91st birthday next week, received the vaccine from nurse May Parsons at University Hospital in Coventry at 6.31am yesterday.
Known to family and friends as Maggie, Mrs Keenan said: ‘I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against Covid-19.
‘It’s the best early birthday present I could wish for because it means I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the new year after being on my own for most of the year.’
She added: ‘I can’t thank May and the NHS staff enough, and my advice to anyone offered the vaccine is to take it.’
Mrs Keenan had been isolating since March. Mr Maton said having the jab means she can now celebrate her birthday with those in her bubble and see her family at Christmas.
Mr Maton, who lives around the corner from his grandmother in Coventry, said: ‘We’re really proud of her.
The fact that she’s 90 years old – 91 next week – will hopefully give other people confidence to have the jab.
‘It sums her up because she’s a wonderful woman. She’s always been Super Gran to us.’
Her proud son Philip Keenan, an electronics expert at Cambridge University, described her as a ‘little person with a heart of gold’.
Mr Keenan, 61, said: ‘She is determined to live beyond 100 and has done everything possible to protect herself.
‘She’s a very sociable person and it has been hard for her to lose that contact with people during the pandemic.
She has bubbled with my sister and her family in Coventry, but otherwise mum has not left her house since March, up until her admission to hospital.’
Mrs Keenan, who was widowed in 2007, will receive a booster jab in 21 days’ time to ensure she has the best chance of being protected against the virus.
NHS nurse Mrs Parsons said it was a ‘huge honour’ to be the first person in the country to deliver a Covid-19 jab to a patient.
‘The last few months have been tough for all of us working in the NHS, but now it feels like there is light at the end of the tunnel,’ she added.
Ex-doctor’s praise for NHS heroes
An 87-year-old grandfather had the jab and said it was his duty to ‘do whatever I can to help’.
Dr Hari Shukla, a former GP and race relations campaigner, heaped praise on the NHS as he and his wife Ranjan, 84, were given the jab at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.
The couple, who have four children and nine grandchildren, thanked those who have worked on the vaccine.
Dr Shukla said: ‘I don’t take this for granted because hundreds of people have worked for this vaccine day and night to make sure we got the vaccines in good time, so the lives of people can be saved.’

Dr Hari Shukla, a former GP and race relations campaigner, heaped praise on the NHS as he and his wife Ranjan, 84, were given the jab