History was made on Tuesday morning after 90-year-old grandmother Margaret Keenan became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine outside of clinical trials.
The British government has ordered 40 million dosages of the vaccine, enough to inoculate 20 million people – with the most vulnerable in society first in line to receive the injection.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are among those in the most vulnerable category due to their advancing ages. This means they are now eligible to receive the vaccine.
However, despite the monarch and her consort being deemed as clinically vulnerable, Buckingham Palace will be keen to ensure that it doesn’t appear that the royals are ‘jumping the queue’ to become inoculated.
Senior politicians and government ministers are, however, anxious for the 94-year-old monarch to have the vaccine as soon as possible in the hope of sending a powerful message to the country, and indeed the world, that the injection is safe.
That being said, it isn’t even clear at this stage whether The Queen will have the vaccine, and even if she does, there is no obligation for Her Majesty to make the matter public.
ITV News reports that during his weekly audience with The Queen, it is possible that Prime Minister Boris Johnson may request that the monarch makes news of her vaccination public knowledge.
However, sources are keen to stress that the matter will be entirely down to Her Majesty over whether she publicly reveals news of her vaccination.
When Prince Charles and Princess Anne were growing up, The Queen made it public knowledge that her children had been vaccinated against polio following a series of scare-stories at the time.
It is possible that once again the monarch will make public these private medical matters in order to reassure the public that the vaccine is safe.
As The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are over the age of 80, they are eligible for the vaccine immediately.
It is hoped that all clinically vulnerable people in the UK will be inoculated by Easter.
