GMA Brandtalk
Tracking
Archives
Fil-Brit nurse who gave first COVID-19 vax shot to receive UK’s George Cross award
United Kingdom-based Filipina nurse May Parsons will receive the George Cross award on behalf of the National Health Service (NHS), the UK's publicly funded healthcare system.
The George Cross is the highest civilian award bestowed by the British government, given for "acts of the greatest heroism or of the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger."
Parsons was the nurse who administered the world’s first shot of a COVID-19 vaccine outside clinical trials—a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to then-90-year-old Margaret Keenan on December 8, 2022. The jab also kick-started the UK's COVID-19 vaccination program.
According to the NHS, Parsons and NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard will represent the 1.5 million staff working for the NHS in England in the awarding ceremony.
According to NHS, the award recognizes the “courage, compassion and dedication” of staff during the pandemic and their service to the public for the last 74 years.
“I am humbled and honoured to be representing the NHS with Amanda when we are awarded the George Cross—it takes hundreds of thousands of us to make the NHS what it is today and I am so grateful to be part of and attending this prestigious event on behalf of such a wonderful team of people—from nurses, doctors, healthcare assistants to many, many others,” Parsons said in a statement.
“All of the staff in hospitals and our communities went above and beyond during the pandemic to look after patients despite the risks the virus posed to themselves, across health and care, staff sacrificed so much to look after those in need,” she added.
“The George Cross is a fitting tribute to them all,” she said.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles will confer the George Cross award on Parsons at Windsor Castle on July 12.
Nearly half or 48 percent of new UK nurses and midwives are from abroad, according to the Britain's Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Of this number, 66 percent are from India or the Philippines.
Parsons and Keenan reunited a year after their historic moment. "We've built a relationship that's not going to be the same as any other, and like I said we're almost kind of like family now because of what we've been through and what we kind of represented [...]," Parsons said.
Since the first shot given to Keenan, the NHS has delivered over 125 million vaccinations, including 33 million boosters and 4.2 million spring boosters. — Mel Matthew Doctor/BM, GMA News
