영국 백신 접종 시작... 80세 이상 노인 및 병원 관계자들 부터

Mass immunization in the UK has started for a small portion of selected groups.
The first type of vaccine to be rolled out is the one from Pfizer and BioNTech, which many other countries are reviewing for use as well.
Kim Do-yeon reports.
An elderly lady is brought through the door in a wheelchair... to applause from the hospital staff.
It's not because she's beaten a life-threatening disease, however, but because she symbolizes the light at the end of a tunnel called COVID-19.
Margaret Keenan, at 91 years old, was the first person to get the vaccine in the UK.
And she's aware of what this means to the rest of the world.
"I couldn't believe it you know but I'm happy it's happened and now I've done it and hopefully it will help other people to come along and do as I did, you know, trying to do the best to get rid of this terrible thing, yes."
The UK gave emergency authorization on December 2nd... for the vaccine made by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech.
The first shipments from overseas arrived at select hospitals in the UK on Sunday.
The government, however, is not letting its guard down... and continues to ask the British people for their cooperation.
"So I would expect sort of springtime, April, something like that, you start to see more return towards normality thereafter. It's going to take a while before you get to full normality."
The first 800,000 doses are going to people 80 and older... who are either hospitalized or already have outpatient appointments scheduled, and it's going to workers at nursing homes.
Others will have to wait their turn.
In the first phase, the government is aiming to vaccinate more than 25 million people, or about 40% of the population.
In the U.S. and the European Union, the Pfizer's vaccine and others are still under review, but distribution is expected to start in the coming days and weeks.
Kim Do-yeon, Arirang News