A pharmacy technician from Croydon Health Services takes delivery of the first batch of COVID-19 vaccinations at Croydon University Hospital in south London.

Video. First batches of coronavirus vaccine arrive at hospital near London

These are one of the UK's first batches of the recently-approved coronavirus vaccine arriving at a hospital in Croydon near London. 

These are one of the UK's first batches of the recently-approved coronavirus vaccine arriving at a hospital in Croydon near London. 

The country became the first in the world to give the green light to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. 

The UK has pre-ordered 40 million doses and is set to receive an initial batch of 800,000 to kickstart a rollout on December 8.

Elderly care home residents and their carers will be the very first in line, followed by those aged 80 and over and frontline health and care staff.

Other elderly people and the clinically extremely vulnerable will be next, with the rest of the population then prioritised by age.

The first doses were transported to the UK this week from a Pfizer plant in Belgium and will begin to arrive at dozens of "hospital hubs" nationwide.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II will receive the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine within weeks.

The monarch, 94, and her 99-year-old husband Prince Philip are in line to get the jab early in the rollout, due to their age and will not receive preferential treatment, several newspapers reported.

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