Photos show what it looks like in the UK as citizens receive the first doses of the new COVID-19 vaccine

Photos depict the scene in the UK on "V-Day," when the first citizens got doses of the COVID-19 vaccine outside of trials.

The UK health regulator approved the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech on December 2. The country became the first Western nation to approve COVID-19 vaccines outside of trials.

Deputy charge nurse Katie McIntosh waits to administer the first of two Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine jabs to staff at the Western General Hospital, in Edinburgh, on the first day of the largest immunization program in the UK's on December 8.

The country said care-home residents and their carers would get first access to the vaccine. The country started giving doses on December 8.

Syringes containing the first of two Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine jabs sit in a tray at the Western General Hospital, in Edinburgh, on December 8.

The UK ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine, enough to vaccinate 20 million people out of the country's population of roughly 67 million.

The country received 800,000 initial doses, enough for 400,000 people to get vaccinated in the country's first wave, per UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

A consent form is filled out as the first of two Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine jabs are administered to staff at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh.

UK public health officials dubbed the first day of vaccine shots "V-Day."

Nurse Katie McIntosh administers an injection of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to Clinical Nurse Manager Fiona Churchill, at the Western General Hospital, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Margaret Keenan, a 90-year-old grandmother of four, became the first person in the West to receive a COVID-19 vaccine outside of trials on Tuesday morning.

"I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against COVID-19," Keenan told the AP. "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 first man to receive a vaccine in the UK outside of trials was an Englishman named William Shakespeare. One popular internet comment described the moment as "The Taming of the Flu," a pun on literary great William Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew."

An image showing William Shakespeare, 81, getting the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine on December 8, 2020, (L) and an image of English playwright and poet William Shakespeare (R.)

UK health officials said medical staff have contacted people eligible for vaccine doses to arrange appointments.

Roger Shaw, 87, receives a COVID-19 vaccination record card from a nurse Naomi Walsh, on the first day of the largest immunization program in the British history, in London, Britain December 8, 2020

American infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci initially criticized the UK's "rushed" approval process, but later apologized and said he had faith in the country's regulators.

A box of vials of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine concentrate is transported from storage ready for use at Guy's Hospital in London.

An independent advisory committee will meet on December 10 to decide whether to recommend the US Food and Drug Administration green light the Pfizer vaccine for emergency authorized use.

The first patient receiving the vaccine at the hospital Josephine Faleye (80) with senior nurse Dilhani Somaweera at the Royal Free hospital on December 8 in London, United Kingdom.