UK PM Boris Johnson receives AstraZeneca vaccine

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has received the first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on Friday.

Johnson, 56, received his vaccine at St Thomas Hospital in London where almost a year ago he was put in an intensive care unit after he contracted the virus and fell seriously ill.

Boris Johnson urged the general people to receive the vaccine by saying, “I literally did not feel a thing. It was very good, very quick.”

I cannot recommend it too highly, everybody when you do get your notification to go for a jab, please go and get it, it is the best thing for you, the best thing for your family and for everyone else, he added.

Pictures showed the prime minister wearing a black mask, a shirt and a tie with his sleeve rolled up while a nurse gives him the vaccine.

Johnson received the vaccine as European countries on Friday resumed using the AstraZeneca shot after regulators said its benefits outweighed any risks following recent reports of blood clots.

The AstraZeneca vaccine, developed by scientists at the University of Oxford, has also been at the center of tensions between Britain and the European Union after Brussels expressed anger over the lack of deliveries of the shot coming from Britain.

ARR