Health Secretary Matt Hancock hails the start of the UK's mass vaccination drive as "a tribute to scientific endeavour, to human ingenuity"
Margaret Keenan, 90, the first to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech jab today, said it was "the best early birthday present" - she turns 91 next week
Professor Stephen Powis of NHS England called it "really, really emotional" and "a truly historic day"
PM Boris Johnson said the vaccine would make a "huge difference" but urged people to keep following the rules
Hospital hubs across the UK will give the vaccine to the over-80s and some health and care staff
The UK is first country in the world to start using the Pfizer vaccine after regulators approved its use last week
Meanwhile, researchers confirmed that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine was safe and effective
In Scotland, next year's Higher and Advanced Higher exams are to be cancelled after disruption to schools
Globally 67.59 million people have been infected and 1.54 million have died, according to Johns Hopkins University
Image source, PA MediaLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer has described the start of the UK's vaccination programme as a "momentous day in our fight against Covid-19".
He tweeted:, external "There is light at the end of the tunnel. It is crucial we all continue to stay safe by following public health advice. "
Image source, PA MediaThe vaccination programme will make a "huge difference" but it will take time to inoculate everyone, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said.
Speaking at the vaccination centre at Guy's Hospital in London, he said: "It will gradually make a huge, huge difference, but I stress 'gradually' because we are not there yet, we have not defeated this virus yet.
"We can't afford to relax now."
He also said people should not be afraid of getting vaccinated, and that those objecting to it were "totally wrong".
"To all those who are scared (of getting vaccinated) - don't be.
"You have seen Lyn [Wheeler] take it, you have seen people take the vaccine this morning in large numbers.
"There's nothing to be nervous about."
He added: "What I would say is that there are those obviously who feel that a vaccine is something they object to politically or for ideological reasons.
"I think they are totally wrong. It's safe, it's the right thing to do, it's good for you and it's good for the whole country."
Image source, PA MediaOne of the first people to be vaccinated as part of the Covid-19 vaccination programme in the UK has told Prime Minister Boris Johnson it is "all for Britain".
Lyn Wheeler, 81, from Bromley, was the first to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech jab at Guy's Hospital in London on Tuesday morning.
She was given the vaccine in front of the prime minister, and when he asked her how it had been, she said: "It's all for Britain."
Wheeler was given a round of applause after receiving the inoculation.
Johnson said: "It was very, very exciting just to talk to Lyn about the vaccine that she has just taken.
"She is 81 and it is really very moving to hear her say she is doing it for Britain, which is exactly right - she is protecting herself but also helping to protect the entire country."
Sarah Rainsford
BBC Moscow Correspondent
Its name alone speaks of Russia's ambition: Sputnik V, the country's leading vaccine against Covid-19, is meant to be a world-beater just like its cosmic namesake.
Back in August, it was the first to be registered for emergency use although it had only been tested on a few dozen people.
Now doctors, teachers and social workers are being offered Sputnik V in a mass inoculation campaign ordered by President Vladimir Putin. Its timing, just ahead of a similar launch in the UK, is unlikely to be a coincidence.
But Sputnik V is still in the midst of trials to check that it's safe and actually works, making some Russians wary of receiving it yet.
And despite a fanfare over the vaccine's grand rollout, there are still problems scaling up production.
In a sense, this is no "launch" at all. Russian health workers have been getting vaccinated in tandem with the official trials for several months. Teachers have been eligible too, and VIPs including President Putin's own daughter have had the jab. The list is said to total more than 100,000 people.
Read the full story here.
Hundreds queue in Yiwu, China for experimental Covid-19 vaccine
The UK has launched mass vaccinations against coronavirus using an injection created by Pfizer and BioNTech. But it's not the only country offering vaccines outside of trial conditions:
Scientists are looking at whether it will be possible to combine different Covid-19 vaccines to boost the results, according to the government's chief scientific adviser.
Sir Patrick Vallance told Sky News: "It's a pretty standard way of boosting the immune system, so-called heterologous prime-boost.
"What it means is that you give one vaccine to get the immune system triggered up and another one to then boost it further with a different vaccine - that's an established way of getting the immune system geed up.
He added: "But that needs to be looked at - you can't assume that it will work. It needs to be tested properly, and that's one of the things about all of these vaccines and all of the clinical trials of medicines is you need to do the trials properly, you need to make sure you test these things."
Suppressing coronavirus during the vaccine rollout remains "absolutely critical", as there are rising cases in parts of Essex, Kent and London, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "This is an incredibly important moment on the march out of this pandemic, but we've still got a long march to go this winter.
"People need to keep respecting the rules and try to live in a way that, if you have the virus, infects as few people as possible."
The UK has "got to keep this under control", he added.
Image source, Labour PartyMore than a month since Wales' 17-day firebreak lockdown ended, there are more Covid-19 patients in hospitals than during the peak of the first wave in April.
The country's health secretary, Vaughan Gething, told the Today programme that since the firebreak ended "we haven't seen a significant and sustained change in our pattern of behaviour".
He said this was why the government had to make "really difficult choices" on new restrictions for the hospitality industry, and would have to make "more difficult choices over the coming weeks to keep Wales safe, and frankly to keep more people alive".
He said he did not think there would be changes to the rules over Christmas, but acknowledged it was a possibility.
He added: "I'm not convinced that changing the Christmas arrangements now would actually lead to more people doing something different."
Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent
Today marks the first step towards protecting the vulnerable and ending many of the restrictions that have dominated our lives in 2020.
But the NHS faces a huge task in rolling out vaccination.
First there needs to be a smooth supply of vaccine - and already there are reports of manufacturing problems which means the UK is expecting less than half of the 10m doses of the Pfizer jab it was planning for by the end of the year.
The fact it needs it be kept in ultra-cold storage is an added complication.
That’s why even though today is a momentous moment, the UK is still pinning its hopes on the Oxford University vaccine which is being looked at by regulators.
That is British made and there are already millions of doses in stock in the country.
If that gets the green light for rollout there will be a genuine hope the first few months of 2021 will see the most vulnerable offered jabs, and the UK can return to something closer to normality.
'Thrilled' Hancock warns of long way to go
Coronavirus restrictions could be lifted from spring next year if the vaccine is effective in stopping transmission, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.
But he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that ministers do not yet know an exact date for this yet.
And it would depend on the usual indicators - the number of Covid cases, rates in the over 60s, hospital admissions and the number of deaths.
"We've said that we think from the spring things can start getting back to normal," he said.
"I have great hopes for summer 2021 and I hope we can lift the restrictions from the spring."
Asked whether vaccine "immunity passports" could be useful for companies, Hancock said: "The problem is that we don't yet know if the vaccine stops you transmitting the virus.
"The card that people are being given is a reminder card for their second appointment."
Coronavirus: First Covid-19 vaccine in NI given to nurse
The first Covid-19 vaccination in Northern Ireland has been administered to a nurse.
Sister Joanna Sloan - who will head up the vaccine roll-out in Belfast - received the jab just after 08:00 GMT at the Royal Victoria Hospital.
Sloan, 28, a mother of one, said she felt emotional and proud to be part of history.
She has been a nurse for six years and is due to get married in April.
Image source, PA MediaProf Stephen Powis, national medical director of NHS England, said the start of the vaccination programme felt "like the beginning of the end".
2020 had been a "dreadful" year but life would get back to "normal" in the coming months, he said.
Asked what his message would be to people who might have concerns over the vaccine, he told BBC Breakfast vaccination was "one of the safest forms of medicine".
"This one has been tested in many thousands of people in clinical trials and, of course, the independent regulator, the MHRA, has looked at it carefully, as it always does, and has given it the green light.
"And so if you get called, we'll be calling you to come and get it, then my advice is come and get it."
We've been hearing from people in the UK who will receive the vaccine today.
Gill Rogers is 86 and lives near Brighton. Her husband died with Covid in April and she is due to get the vaccine on Tuesday afternoon.
She told the BBC's Today programme she was "a bit pleased" to be among the first to be offered the jab.
Asked how she thought life would change once she has received the second dose of the vaccine, Gill responded: "I'm not sure, because other people won't have had it and I haven't yet worked out what difference that makes."
But she added that having the vaccine would offer her more freedom: "I shan't be so careful, I shan't be so worried. I'll go into shops more and with any luck I might get onto public transport."
Britain's medicines regulator, the MHRA, approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine last week after finding that it met the required safety standards.
The MHRA says it hasn't identified any "serious adverse reactions".
The vaccine, which offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19, is given as two injections given 21 days apart. Immunity begins to kick in after the first dose but reaches its full effect seven days after the second dose.
"The safety of the public will always come first," the MHRA's head, Dr June Raine, said after the vaccine was approved.
She went on to explain that decision was made "following the most rigorous scientific assessment of every piece of data so that it meets the required strict standards of safety, of effectiveness and of quality".
Most of the side effects are very mild, similar to those sometimes experienced after any other vaccine, and usually last for a day or so, according to Prof Sir Munir Pirmohamed, the chairman of the Commission on Human Medicine expert working group.
Be aware that anti-vaccine stories are spread online through social media. These posts are not based on scientific advice (or blend facts with misinformation).
Read more about what we know is true about the vaccine here.
It is hoped that vaccinations in England's care homes can begin "before Christmas", Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.
He told BBC Breakfast: "We'll do that as soon as we can.
"We can't do it from today because the way that we get the vaccine physically to the care homes itself needs to be safe and secure [and] approved by the regulator."
He added: "We hope to be starting that before Christmas."
On the number of doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine the UK will receive, he said the country was expecting "millions by the end of the year".
He added: "We're not putting an exact figure on it because there are so many uncertainties still."
Image source, Getty ImagesMany care homes in the UK have been unable to let family members visit
Image source, PA MediaDevelopers of the coronavirus vaccine are "absolutely delighted" that the UK is beginning its mass vaccination programme today.
Sean Marett, chief commercial officer at BioNTech, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the country had been "very rapid" in its discussions over buying the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which "certainly facilitated the ability to provide the vaccine".
He said it was "too early to say" whether the vaccine would stop the spread of coronavirus, explaining that this would take months to establish.
"What we can say is you take this vaccine and in 95% of cases you don't get symptoms and you're protected from symptoms," he said.
He added: "If you look at our clinical trial and the safety profile, most people if they're going to experience side effects they are transient - headache or fatigue.
"I think this is a very tolerated vaccine."
People in the UK must "stick to the rules even while we roll out the vaccine", the health secretary has said.
Matt Hancock told BBC Breakfast he was feeling "conflicted" emotions this morning - both "thrilled" at watching Margaret Keenan receive the jab and "determined" that the country "sticks together while we get through these final months".
He said it would take "several weeks" to vaccinate the first priority group, and "several months" to vaccinate all those who are vulnerable to coronavirus.
"This virus is still deadly. We've got to stick to the rules even while we roll out the vaccine."
Image source, ReutersMargaret Keenan, 90, was the first person to be given the vaccine
Michelle Roberts
Health editor, BBC News online
Getting a safe and effective Covid vaccine from concept to approval in under a year is a staggering scientific achievement that many doubted was possible.
Now it’s arrived, there’s another mountain to climb – getting the jab to all of those who need it.
The UK has started this extraordinary immunisation drive, signposting a way out of a pandemic that has taken lives and livelihoods.
These first doses given today are for people at the highest risk from Covid-19 illness or death, and those caring for them.
Millions more will be offered the jab in the coming days, weeks and months.
It will be a major logistical challenge to get that job done, requiring thousands of extra NHS staff and volunteers working against the clock.
But experts are hopeful that by spring, the vast majority of those on the priority list will have been immunised with two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, or the Oxford jab if regulators soon approve that for use too.
The world will be watching to see how well it all goes, and what lessons can be learned.
As we have been reporting, 90-year-old Margaret Keenan was the first person in the UK to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, outside medical trials.
Of course, the playwright and poet William Shakespeare was born and died in Stratford-upon-Avon - also in Warwickshire.
Image source, BBC/Hugh Pym
Image source, Science Photo LibraryAs we’ve been reporting, today marks the beginning of the UK’s mass Covid-19 vaccination programme.
But who gets the jab first and when might you be eligible to receive it?
The vaccines are being given to those deemed most vulnerable by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, external.
Top of the list are frontline health staff, over-80s, and care home workers, all of whom will receive the jab from hospital hubs that are able to store the vaccine at the -70C temperatures they need to be kept at.
Residents in care homes will start to be vaccinated within two weeks and other high-priority groups will follow over the coming months.