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Actor Ian McKellen has become the poster boy for the UK’s massive COVID-19 vaccination campaign, saving the national treasure from the pandemic that has claimed the lives of 1.65 million people worldwide.
The 81-year-old “Lord of the Rings” and “X-Men” star received her first dose of the vaccine on Wednesday at the Art Pavilion in London. He praised the publicly funded National Health Service for administering the drug Pfizer-BioNTech during the pandemic. It was a much more positive development of the celebrity-linked coronavirus outside of London this week. (Looks at you sideways, Tom Cruise.)
McKellen said he felt “very lucky to have had the vaccine” and would recommend it to anyone without hesitation. A tweet from the NHS London Twitter account cited the veteran Thespian as “euphoric.”
“I really hope that as more and more people get vaccinated we will move forward on the path to returning to a more normal way of life, especially for the arts which have suffered so much this year.” , the stage and film star said in a statement. published by NHS. “We all have a role to play in the fight against the coronavirus and doing our part and getting vaccinated will save lives.”
McKellen was among the first groups of people eligible for the vaccine in Britain. This includes people over 80, NHS staff and home care staff. Great British Baking Show star Prue Leith and television producer Michael Whitehall are among other famous Britons who have received their first pictures.
‘That’s the real bonus of it all, watching and seeing what works in this country and what doesn’t – and it seems to me the NHS is right at the top of the list of institutions that work, ”McKellen said at ITV. “Of course I know I wouldn’t be alive without the NHS. I’m a little older than the NHS, but when I was a kid having good medical treatment available when needed – what a wonderful idea, ”he continued.
The actor described the vaccination as “invasive” but didn’t care too much: “It looks like a gun – a needle – but it’s not, he’s a friend!” He also said that six days after his second dose, he would like to give healthcare workers a big hug if allowed.
British health regulators led the charge of the vaccination campaign by approving Pfizer and the German two-dose vaccine BioNTech for emergency use on December 1 following large-scale clinical trials. They began administering the first inoculations on December 7.
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration cleared the drug for emergency use a few days later, and healthcare workers in hospitals began receiving the first vaccinations on Monday. In phase 3 clinical trials involving more than 43,000 volunteers, the experimental vaccine was 95% efficient in the prevention of COVID-19.
Like other routine vaccinations, the Pfizer vaccine works by training the immune system to defend itself against attack. Doses are injected into the upper arm at least 21 days apart. The vaccine developed by the American biotechnology company Moderna and the National Institutes of Health requires one dose. On Thursday, it was approved for emergency use by the FDA after being approved by a government panel. The investigational drug shows an overall effectiveness rate of around 94% in preventing COVID-19, according to initial studies.
Both vaccines cause the immune system to attack the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 by providing an extract of the virus’s genetic code. This code – known as messenger RNA, or MRNA – instructs the body to build copies of the spike protein that nails the surface of the virus. The immune system responds by creating antibodies, which remain on hold until they are faced with an actual infection.
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