The first recipient of the coronavirus vaccine in Northern Ireland will get the jab on Tuesday morning.
The Pfizer/BioNTech dose will be administered at 8am at a mass vaccination centre at the Royal Victoria Hospital, according to the PA news agency.
The recipient will be one of an 800-plus team of vaccinators that will be involved in the subsequent roll-out programme.
Stocks of coronavirus vaccine arrived in Northern Ireland on Friday.
They were transported via the Irish Republic having arrived into Dublin port from Holyhead overnight.
There are 25,000 doses in the initial batch of the vaccine.
As two doses are required, this batch is enough for around 12,500 people.
The stocks have been taken to a central storage facility operated by a private company. The location is not being disclosed.
Stormont Health Minister Robin Swann said: "We have been anticipating this news for many months and it is hugely welcome to receive this first batch of the vaccine today.
"I have been clear that we still have a long journey ahead of us but we can be optimistic."
The minister confirmed that vaccinators who will administer the vaccine will receive the first doses early next week, "followed swiftly by priority groups".
Mr Swann said there were "significant logistical challenges" associated with the distribution of the vaccine to care homes.
He said his department was "exploring all avenues to achieve this priority objective".
Minister Swann added: "Vaccination will be a massive long-term logistical challenge. Our rate of progress will depend on available supplies that will be distributed as part of a UK-wide programme."
He said: "Everyone will require two doses, with a number of weeks in between. Roll-out will take up a large part of 2021 so we will all need to be patient as we await our turn."
It comes as a further six deaths from coronavirus were confirmed in Northern Ireland today, bringing the death toll to 1,032.
449 new cases of the disease were also identified from tests on 3,063 people.
The Department of Health said that 402 Covid patients are currently in hospital, with 35 in ICU and 24 of those on ventilators.
Vaccination centres to be open 7 days a week
The vaccine was transported overnight from England and has been taken to a central storage facility, the location of which is not being disclosed.
Healthcare workers across the region will be able to get the vaccine through the remainder of December at seven centres spread across Northern Ireland.
Two of the facilities are located on hospital grounds - at the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald and Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital - and the rest in leisure centres.
The centres will operate 12 hours a day and seven days a week in an effort to vaccinate 100,000 healthcare and care home staff. Care home residents and people aged over 80 are also in the first priority vaccination group.
The size of batches and the extremely low temperature at which it must be stored poses logistical challenges with using the vaccine outside the major centres.
The majority of care home residents may ultimately receive another brand of vaccine, with health chiefs hopeful that regulatory approval for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine could be only a matter of days away.
That product does not come with the same storage and batch size constraints.
Additional reporting PA
