On December 8, 2020, a man with a singular name stole the headlines of the world press for being the first Briton to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. His name was William Shakespeare. His family reported that the man died at age 81. And not because of COVID, but because of a stroke.
Shakespeare was vaccinated at Coventry University Hospital in central England just after Margaret Keenan, a 90-year-old woman who became the first person in the world to receive a fully tested COVID vaccine and clinically licensed. William was the first man and the first Briton to use the drug.
For 53 years he was married to Joy, who claimed that her late husband was thankful for being one of the first people to receive a vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which has kept the world in a pandemic for more than a year.
“He often talked to people about it and encouraged everyone to get vaccinated whenever he could.Joy said in a statement. Others close to the man expressed their condolences at the death of a man who was a lover of jazz, photography, a local school official and a parish councilor.
His family claimed that “Bill,” as he was affectionately called, was a wonderful husband, father, and grandfather. Jayne Innes, a councilor friend of Shakespeare, stated on her Twitter account that the man liked mischief.
Greatly saddened and upset to hear our friend, the very lovely Bill Shakespeare, has passed away
Bill will be remembered for many things, including a taste for mischief. He became an international sensation as the first man to receive a Covid vaccine # RIPBillShakespeare pic.twitter.com/hpNRgXmPak
– Jayne Innes (@JayneInnes) May 24, 2021
Mr. Bill Shakespeare was obviously named after the English writer, playwright and poet, William Shakespeare, who died in 1616. World renowned, Shakespeare is considered the most important writer in the English language, author of such famous works as Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet and Othello among many others.
Bill Shakespeare died in the same English hospital where he was hospitalized after suffering a stroke and where he was vaccinated against the new coronavirus to become one of the most alluded characters during the COVID pandemic.
