London

After Margaret Keenan, 90, received the first shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine in the UK, it was followed by an elderly man called William Shakespeare who like the famous British playwright also hails from Warwickshire.

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Reports said Shakespeare was the second person to get the vaccine jab after Keenan, but it has not been confirmed. He is reportedly the first man to get the vaccine.

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William Shakespeare, 81, received the COVID-19 jab at University Hospital Coventry which is just a few miles from Stratford-Upon-Avon where his famous namesake was born in 1564. 

Meanwhile, reports said British Queen Elizabeth II, 94, is in line to receive the vaccine due to her age and is being seen as the best person to front the public awareness campaign to urge people to vaccinate..

The Pfizer jab administered to Shakespeare led to several memes on social media as people hailed the move.

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PM Johnson who was struck with the virus earlier this year, said he will not be among the first people to receive the vaccine. "I'm not in the priority group," the British prime minister told a man waiting to get a jab at a hospital.

Also Read: For Boris Johnson, a week to exorcise the demons of 2020

The United Kingdom has ordered 40 million doses which is enough to vaccinate 20 million people since two shots are needed to complete the dose. There are at least 800,000 vaccines in the first batch. 

As Britain leaves the European Union on December 31 there has been concern that Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine being produced in Belgium could hit a roadblock, however, the UK government said the military is on standby to airlift the vaccine if there is any disruption from January 1, 2021.