{"id":305242,"date":"2025-12-08T15:44:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T15:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/305242\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T15:44:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T15:44:14","slug":"nhs-nurse-who-delivered-worlds-first-covid-19-vaccine-issues-stark-warning-on-jabs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/305242\/","title":{"rendered":"NHS nurse who delivered world\u2019s first Covid-19 vaccine issues stark warning on jabs"},"content":{"rendered":"

May Parsons has warned families are getting complacent and has urged people to get vaccinated<\/p>\n

09:52, 08 Dec 2025Updated 09:59, 08 Dec 2025<\/p>\n

May administered the world’s first approved Covid-19 vaccine(Image: The Mirror)<\/p>\n

The NHS nurse who delivered the world\u2019s first Covid-19 vaccine<\/a> has warned that ‘we are getting complacent’ and has called on families not to forget how lifesaving vaccines can be. May Parsons has described the \u2018heartbreaking\u2019 conversations that take place with people on their death beds who regret missing jabs for flu and Covid.<\/p>\n

Five years ago today, May administered the first vaccine outside of clinical trials<\/a> to Maggie Keenan. Back then, at the height of the pandemic, vaccines saved the country from perpetual lockdowns and there was a clamour for everyone to get one.<\/p>\n

Since then, vaccine uptake for Covid-19<\/a> and flu has plummeted and May is speaking out to urge people not to get \u201ccomplacent\u201d with their lives. It comes as Britain is braced for its worst flu season on record, the Mirror reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

May described how she has seen patients on their deathbeds wishing they had taken up the offer of a vaccine when it was too late. She said: \u201cPeople are being complacent. They are dismissing the symptoms as just \u2018natural\u2019 but if you are unlucky enough to be frail it is dangerous.<\/p>\n

May administering the Pfizer\/BioNtech vaccine to 90-year-old Margaret Keenan at Coventry’s University Hospital(Image: PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if you\u2019re a generally healthy person when you get the flu, if you get the real thing, you will be so ill you won\u2019t be able to lift a finger. Until you get those symptoms it\u2019s hard to imagine the impact flu can have on your physiology. If people are unlucky they suffer with breathing problems\u2026 and that\u2019s when there can be increased risk of cardiac arrest. Will you want to be taking that lottery and risking your life?\u201d<\/p>\n

May was a matron at University Hospital Coventry when she administered the first approved Covid-19 vaccine on December 8, 2020 as cameras flashed and images of her were beamed around the world. It came during a global race to develop and manufacture Covid-19 vaccines. She describes being asked to administer the jab that day as an \u201cextraordinary privilege\u201d.<\/p>\n

May with Maggie after the historic vaccination(Image: The Mirror)<\/p>\n

The 45-year-old, who has worked in the NHS<\/a> for over 20 years, said: \u201cI only found out that the vaccination was going to be the first in the world on the day itself. I was nervous because there were a lot of cameras out there. I just relied on the muscle memory of my training as a nurse because it was something I did on a daily basis. In that moment during the second wave of the pandemic, which was the hardest time, we felt like it was opening a door of hope not just to millions of people in the UK, but to billions of people around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flu vaccine uptake among over-65s in 2020\/21 at the height of the pandemic was 82.3 per cent. Since then, annual data shows it has fallen every year and it dropped to 74.9 per cent in 2024\/25 – just below the World Health Organisation\u2019s minimum target of 75 per cent. For younger age groups, uptake is generally worse with 42.6 per cent coverage in two and three year olds last year and only 35 per cent of pregnant women getting the flu jab.<\/p>\n

May and Maggie reuniting in September 2021 for their first booster jabs(Image: PA)<\/p>\n

During the pandemic well over 90 per cent of people aged over 75 took up the offer of a Covid-19 jab. Last data for so far this year shows just 61.6 per cent of over-75s and 28.2 per cent of eligible under-75s with a weakened immune system have had the Covid jab. May, a mum-of-two, said: \u201cDuring the pandemic I heard a lot of patients on the brink of death wishing that they had the vaccine and we couldn’t do anything.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amount of disinformation out there is causing so much harm to people. It’s really hard to get people to understand the impact of flu until they’ve seen it. It’s really heartbreaking when you hear people saying \u2018I wish I had the vaccine\u2019 and it’s too late for them\u2026 it’s soul crushing.\u201d<\/p>\n

NHS England says it is easier to get vaccinated now than at the height of the pandemic with flu vaccine nasal sprays available from pharmacies. Patients can book a vaccine on the NHS App and get the flu and Covid jab during the same appointment. Latest data for this winter shows 17 million flu jabs have been administered – which is 350,000 more than at the same point last year.<\/p>\n

Duncan Burton, Chief Nursing Officer for England, said: \u201cWhile it\u2019s been five years since the NHS delivered the historic first Covid vaccination, the importance of getting jabbed is just as important today as it was then. With respiratory viruses spiralling \u2013 with thousands of flu sufferers set to end up in hospital in the coming weeks – now is the time to act and protect yourself. If the pandemic taught us anything, it\u2019s that vaccines save lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duncan Burton says ‘vaccines save lives'(Image: The Mirror)<\/p>\n

May now works as a nursing director at a social care provider in Buckinghamshire. She added: \u201cI think the pandemic showed that when we are struggling as a community, if we put our efforts together\u2026 how connected the human race is when we face a challenge so profound.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just had my Covid and flu jabs about two weeks ago. In social care I\u2019m dealing with a lot of elderly, frail residents who have pre-existing conditions and the impact on their health [of an infection] is tremendous. In some cases when they get the flu, they get pneumonia and then die. I would strongly recommend people protecting themselves and their loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who can get vaccinated?<\/p>\n

Flu vaccines are available for everyone aged 65 and over, under 65s in clinical risk groups, pregnant women, care home residents and carers, close contacts of those who are immunosuppressed, frontline social care workers, and health and social care staff as well as children.<\/p>\n

Covid-19 vaccinations are available to adults aged 75 and over, older adult care home residents, and people who are immunosuppressed. Eligible adults can book an appointment to get their flu vaccine now via at their local pharmacy via the NHS App, GP practice, online at www.nhs.uk\/bookflu or by calling 119.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"May Parsons has warned families are getting complacent and has urged people to get vaccinated 09:52, 08 Dec…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2211,69173,59,102,104,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-305242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19-vaccine","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-nhs","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}