The Taming of the Flu: Man named William Shakespeare receives Covid-19 vaccine

The 81-year-old had the injection at University Hospital Coventry on Tuesday, 20 miles from Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of his namesake, England’s greatest dramatist and poet.

William Shakespeare from Warwickshire in England was one of the first people to receive the newly approved COVID-19 vaccine outside a clinical trial on Tuesday.

"Bill" William Shakespeare, 81, receives the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at University Hospital, at the start of the largest ever immunisation programme in the British history, in Coventry, Britain. (REUTERS)

The 81-year-old had the injection at University Hospital Coventry on Tuesday, 20 miles from Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of his namesake, England’s greatest dramatist and poet.

Shakespeare’s shot inspired Twitter users, who joked “The Taming of the Flu”, “The Two Gentlemen of Corona”. Some asked if Margaret Keenan was patient 1A, then was Shakespeare “Patient 2B or not 2B?”.