A 90-year-old woman and a famous playwright's namesake are the first people to be given a Covid jab as part of the mass vaccination programme which is now being rolled out across the UK.

Margaret Keenan turns 91 next week and received the injection at 6.31am this morning. She said it was the "best early birthday present".

Moments later, the second person to have the immunisation shot was an elderly Warwickshire gentleman called William Shakespeare - yes, really.

The first of 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will be given in the next few weeks and up to four million more are expected by the end of the month.

Hubs in the UK will vaccinate people aged 80 and above as well as some healthcare staff to protect the most vulnerable.

Matron May Parsons administered Ms Keenan's vaccine at University Hospital in Coventry.

Ms Keenan, originally from Enniskillen, told the BBC: "I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against Covid-19, 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."

"I can't thank May and the NHS staff enough who have looked after me tremendously, and my advice to anyone offered the vaccine is to take it - if I can have it at 90 then you can have it too."