Matt Hancock struggled to fight back tears in an emotional Good Morning Britain interview as the first Covid-19 vaccination jabs were administered in the UK.

The Health Secretary appeared alongside presenters Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid on Tuesday morning’s instalment of the ITV breakfast show.

He became emotional after seeing a clip of the first man in the world to receive the vaccine, William Shakespeare who was happy we could “get on with our lives”.

As the camera cut back to the studio Hancock appeared to wipe away tears in reaction to the 81-year-old from Warwickshire receiving the jab.

Noticing the Health Secretary’s emotion Pier Morgan asked: “In just simple words, reacting to it, you’re quite emotional about that?”

“You know, it’s been such a tough year for so many people and there’s William Shakespeare putting it simply for everybody that you know, we can get on with our lives,” Hancock replied.

He added: “There’s still a few months to go, I’ve still got this worry, we can’t blow it now Piers.

“We’ve still got to get the vaccine to millions of people and so we’ve got to keep sticking by the rules but there is so much work that has gone into this and it makes me proud to be British.”

Meanwhile, a 90-year-old grandmother became the first person in the world to receive Pfizer’s Covid-19 jab as part of a mass vaccination programme.

Margaret Keenan received the jab at 6.31am in Coventry on Tuesday, marking the start of a phased NHS rollout of the vaccine to older people, health staff and care home workers.

Jabs will be administered at 70 hospital hubs across the UK from Tuesday – dubbed “V-Day” by Matt Hancock.

The NHS Covid-19 vaccination programme will see patients aged 80 and above who are already attending hospital as an outpatient, and those who are being discharged home after a hospital stay, among the first to receive the jab.

Care home providers are also being asked by the Department of Health and Social Care to begin booking staff in to vaccination clinics.

GPs are also expected to be able to begin vaccinating care home residents.

Any appointments not used for these groups will be used for healthcare workers who are at highest risk of serious illness from Covid-19.

Mr Hancock told Sky News when enough vulnerable people have been vaccinated “then, of course, we can lift the restrictions … we think that will be in the spring.”