Apollo 11 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin Receives COVID-19 Vaccine

Buzz Aldrin (@drbuzzaldrin, Instagram)

JAKARTA - Buzz Aldrin, an astronaut who became Neil Armstrong's partner on a mission to the moon, has received an injection of the COVID-19 vaccine. He got the vaccination before celebrating his 91st birthday.

"Received my first COVID-19 vaccine today, a few days before my 91st birthday," Aldrin wrote in a tweet he posted on Monday afternoon.

Not only in the form of a tweet, Aldrin also shared a photo of himself being vaccinated along with the statement:

"I want to thank all scientists, health workers and governments who have worked tirelessly to develop and distribute the Covid-19 vaccine," he added.

Launching Space, Aldrin is no stranger to immunization. Prior to his historic flight to the moon, he and Neil Armstrong had to undergo a number of vaccinations before launching on Apollo 11 to become the first humans to land on the moon.

Received my first Covid-19 vaccine today, a couple of days prior to my 91st birthday. Special thanks go to two outstanding patriots, Vlad Ghenciu Esq and Brian M Cronin, for their invaluable assistance, and to my organization, Buzz Aldrin Ventures LLC for permanent support. pic.twitter.com/oONTtlIIgd

- Dr. Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) January 19, 2021

At that time, the Apollo 11 astronauts were immunized against diphtheria, typhus, tetanus, influenza, poliomyelitis, rubella, rubeola, smallpox and yellow fever as reported by NASA. Not only astronauts, all members of the astronaut family are required to receive vaccinations.

However, it is not yet known what brand of vaccine was injected into the body of the 91-year-old astronaut today. So far there are two vaccines approved by the United States government for handling COVID-19, namely Pfizer made by BioNTech and Moderna.