Margaret Keenan Pfizer coronavirus vaccine
Margaret Keenan, the first woman to receive Pfizer's shot outside clinical trials.
JACOB KING/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
  • After photos of Margaret Keenan receiving the West’s first COVID-19 vaccine flooded social media, Twitter users were quick to praise her festive t-shirt.
  • She was the first woman to receive Pfizer’s vaccine on Tuesday, when the UK began rolling out the shots.
  • Sales of the blue t-shirt have tripled, with people in China, Australia, and Brazil snapping it up.
  • The t-shirt was designed by a hospital charity trust to buy gifts for patients who have to stay in hospital over the holidays.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Sales of a t-shirt worn by the first person to get a COVID-19 vaccine in the West have tripled, with the charity behind the shirt flooded with orders from all over the world.

Margaret Keenan, 90, received the first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine outside trials on Tuesday morning, when the UK began rolling out shots.

After photos of the event hit social media, Twitter users were quick to praise Keenan’s festive t-shirt, which featured a cartoon penguin wrapped in a hat and scarf.

The t-shirt was designed by the University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire Charity, which covers the hospital in Coventry where Keenan got her vaccine.

It launched the £8 ($10.70) t-shirt, and matching face mask, to raise money for gifts for patients. It wanted to buy gifts for both older people and children who had to stay in hospital over the holidays.

The charity provided Keenan with one of the t-shirts so she would feel "more human rather than in a hospital gown," Jo O'Sullivan, the charity's director, told Capital Midlands News.

Since Keenan wore the t-shirt, the charity has received orders from "all over the world," including China, Australia, and Brazil, O'Sullivan said.

"We are only a small charity, but we have seen sales of the t-shirt triple and have had to order more stock," she told the BBC.

So far it has made almost £4,000 ($5,350) from sales of the t-shirt.

Read more: Pharmacies, doctor's offices and hospitals are gearing up to give coronavirus vaccines to millions of Americans. Here's how they're preparing.

As the UK continues to roll out doses of Pfizer's vaccine, the US prepares for its approval, which could come as early as Thursday.

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