A UK grandmother has become the first person in the world to be given the Pfizer Covid-19 jab as part of a mass vaccination programme.
Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, said it was the "best early birthday present".
She was given the injection at 06:31 GMT - the first of 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that will be dispensed in the coming weeks.
Up to four million more are expected by the end of the month.
Hubs in the UK will vaccinate over-80s and some health and care staff - the programme aims to protect the most vulnerable and return life to normal.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who has dubbed Tuesday V-day, said this simple act of vaccination was "a tribute to scientific endeavour and human ingenuity and to the hard work of so many people.
"Today marks the start of the fightback against our common enemy, the coronavirus," he said.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, on a visit to a London hospital to see some of the first people getting the jab, said getting vaccinated was "good for you and good for the whole country".
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "Today we should all allow ourselves a smile - but we must not drop our guard."
At University Hospital, Coventry, matron May Parsons administered the very first jab to Ms Keenan.
"I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against Covid-19," Ms Keenan, who is originally from Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, said.
"It's the best early birthday present I could wish for because it means I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the new year after being on my own for most of the year.
The second person vaccinated in Coventry was William Shakespeare, 81, from Warwickshire, who said he was "pleased" to be given the jab and hospital staff had been "wonderful".
BBC
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