The world’s second person and first man to receive an approved COVID vaccine has died.
After suffering a stroke less than six months after publicly receiving the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, William Shakespeare died in hospital at the age of 81.
On December 8, Bill, as he was known, made international headlines when he received the injection at the University Hospital Coventry, shortly after Margaret Keenan, 91.
Mr. Shakespeare died on Thursday, according to the BBC, and Coventry councilor Jayne Innes, a friend of Mr. Shakespeare, said the “best tribute to Bill is to have the jab.”
Mr. Shakespeare had worked at Rolls-Royce and was a parish councilor.
The 81-year-old, who had served his local community in Allesley for more than three decades, died of a stroke, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust said.
Mr. Shakespeare, who had lived in Brownshill Green, was an inpatient on the hospital’s frailty ward at the time of his first jab, and said it had been “wonderful”.
In a tribute, released through the trust, his wife, Joy, said: “Bill was so grateful for being offered the opportunity to become one of the first people in the world to be given the vaccine.
“It was something he was hugely proud of – he loved seeing the media coverage and the positive difference he was able to make to the lives of so many.
“He often talked to people about it and would always encourage everyone to get their vaccine whenever he could.”
As well as his wife of 53 years, Mr. Shakespeare leaves their two adult sons and grandchildren.
