A 90-year-old grandmother has become the first person in the UK to receive a coronavirus vaccine outside a clinical trial.
Margaret Keenan, who lives in Coventry but is originally from Northern Ireland, was given the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine at Coventry University Hospital today as part of the UK's vaccination program, Sky News UK reports.
The second patient to receive it was fittingly a man named William Shakespeare, from Warwickshire.
The UK became the first Western nation to approve the vaccine last week.
"My advice to anyone offered the vaccine is to take it – if I can have it at 90 then you can have it too," Mrs Keenan said.
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said vaccinations will be given at hospital hubs from today.
"It's V-Day," Mr Hancock wrote on Twitter.
"Thank you to everyone who's made this possible… from clinicians, NHS admin staff, doctors, nurses, everyone who volunteered in the trials and those getting the jab today. Let's get this done."
Prime Minister Boris Johnson took to Twitter to thank "all of the scientists who worked so hard to develop the vaccine".
"We will beat this together," Mr Johnson said in a tweet.
He said the government was buying 40 million doses but big hurdles remain before all vulnerable people receive it.
"There are immense logistical challenges. The vaccine has got to be stored at minus 70 degrees," Mr Johnson said.
"Each person needs two injections, three weeks apart. So, it will inevitably take some months before all the most vulnerable are protected."
Source: 9News