ON TUESDAY, THE WORLD’S MEDIA TURNED TO BRITAIN, the first country to administer a clinically tested and authorized coronavirus vaccine. Coverage was full of local color: Margaret Keenan, a ninety-year-old woman, became the first person to be vaccinated, then she drank a cup of tea. “She’s celebrating by ‘avin’ a spot of tea, a nice cuppa,” MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow said, in an excruciating English accent. (Maddow described Keenan as “very, very British”; the Irish press begged to differ.) William Shakespeare (really) was next in line. He went viral on social media, as did Martin Kenyon, a ninety-one-year-old man who spoke to CNN outside a vaccination center: “I went off and had a rather nasty lunch and came back and they were ready for me.” Kenyon further endeared himself in follow-up interviews—he told The Guardian that he found his viral fame baffling and asked Piers Morgan, “Who are you?”

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