'The Poet' and the vaccine.
Eighty-one-year-old Coventry University Hospital patient has become vaccine number 002 in the UK. The retired William, originally from Warwickshire, said during the procedure that "From now on, this can change our lives." His words were picked up by a number of British media outlets including the BBC. Not too often is more attention paid to the latter, compared to the former. Somewhat in the shadows was Margareth Keenen, the number one subscriber to the Covid-19 vaccine, who jokingly described the vaccination as an early present for her ninety-first birthday. More marketable and more interesting for good purposes, however, remained William. That's because his surname is Shakespeare. Incidentally, his namesake, the greatest poet of all time, was born just thirty miles from Warwickshire. The use of a well-known surname, combined with the at-risk status of the vaccinee, is in this case an ingenious marketing ploy, carried out at absolutely negligible financial cost. A little thing like this can make the public read much more about the vaccination issue than hundreds of graphs, technical articles and treatises. And, of course, the use of a household name is not the end of the story, as the titles of well-known plays by a famous playwright are on the table to further fuel the story. For example, "The Taming of the Shrew" (The Taming of the Shrew), or "The Lords of Corona" (The Two Gentlemen of Verona). The Czech equivalent of the British trick is not so accomplished. Although Minister Blatný, who was among the first to be vaccinated, shares a surname with the famous poet Ivan Blatný, and his father, also Jan, was the poet's cousin. However, the first name of the vaccinated minister is different from that of the poet. So be it. But socially and age-wise, it apparently doesn't quite cut it. Jan Blatny, unlike the British pensioner, is a sprightly well-paid 50-year-old in the civil service. Because I like stories as a marketing tool and appreciate complete and finished ones, I would like it if, symbolically, Jan Žižka, an old-age pensioner, or Milena Jesenská, a ninety-year-old resident of a retirement home, received the first benefit in the Czech lands. Just so that it would be nice to write about it.
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