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JERUSALEM, Israel – May Parsons, the Filipino nurse who administered the world’s first approved COVID-19 vaccine outside of clinical trials, represented the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) in receiving the George Cross from Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday, July 12.
The George Cross is “the UK’s highest award for non-military courage,” the Royal Family said in a tweet.
“The George Cross is a really wonderful recognition of the bravery of our staff, of the courage that they’ve displayed throughout, and also their passion and compassion in everything that we do, and putting our patients first,” Parsons said in a video released by NHS England.
Four George Cross medals were awarded to the NHS for the four respective nations of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Each nation had a frontliner representative during the award ceremony at Windsor Castle.
NHS England said in a statement on Saturday, July 9, that Parsons will attend the ceremony on behalf of the 1.5 million staff of NHS England, together with NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard. The UK is host to around 30,000 Filipino nurses and healthcare workers, the third largest nationality group in the NHS following British and Indian staff.
On December 8, 2020, Parsons made history as she administered the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to then-90-year-old Margaret Keenan, the first person to get the vaccine approved for the public. Since then, the NHS in England has provided over 125 million vaccinations.
Parsons is a Modern Matron for Respiratory Services at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire Trust.
According to a Sky News report, when Parsons and Pritchard met Queen Elizabeth in the awarding ceremony, the Queen joked, “You’re still alive?”
“We’re terribly, terribly proud of the vaccination rollout, it was so successful,” Parsons replied. The Queen lauded the vaccination rollout that Parsons was involved in, calling it “amazing.”
For British Ambassador to the Philippines Laure Beaufils, Parsons receiving the George Cross on behalf of NHS England is “a recognition of her courage, compassion, and dedication and indeed that of the incredible Filipino staff in the NHS,” she said in a tweet.
The George Cross award was first bestowed in 1940 by the Queen’s father, King George VI, to recognize “acts of the greatest heroism or of the most courage in circumstances of extreme danger,” according to the Royal Family.
Parsons obtained her nursing degree from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila in 2000, according to The Varsitarian. She worked at the UST Hospital for three years, and then moved to the UK in 2003.
The Philippines is one of the world’s leading source of nurses. Nurses are among the millions of Filipinos who work overseas, providing around $30 billion a year in remittances to the Philippine economy.
“We would not be where we are today without the efforts of May and countless others who went above and beyond to roll out the vaccine at speed and precision,” Pritchard said in NHS’ July 9 release. – Jeromel dela Rosa Lara/Rappler.com
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