Sister Joanne Sloan receiving Coroanvirus vaccine on Tuesday
Joanna Sloan, 28, is sister in charge of Covid vaccination for the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, the North’s largest.
She received the jab at the Royal Victoria Hospital in West Belfast on Tuesday morning.
Ms Sloan is a former emergency department nurse and has been in her job for six years.
She is engaged but her wedding was postponed due to the pandemic.
Ms Sloan has a daughter aged five.
Stormont Health Minister Robin Swann said: “Let us not underestimate the importance of today and what we are seeing with the start of our vaccination programme.
“It is a game changer, it is a big day.
“It is the day we have long been waiting for.”
He said it should be greeted with optimism but tempered with caution.
“This is the start of a long road to recovery but we are on the first step.”
The vaccine will be delivered at seven sites across the North of Ireland including Derry’s Foyle Arena, the Ulster Hospital’s new Emergency Department near Belfast, the Seven Towers Leisure Centre in Ballymena and Antrim Forum leisure centre.
Those who will deliver the vaccine to the wider population are the first to receive it.
Residents in care homes and their staff are due to be inoculated before Christmas.
Mr Swann added: “This will make such a difference to that generation, those people with clinical vulnerabilities who have been living in fear of this virus.
“This vaccine gives hope, this vaccine gives the opportunity of a return to normal sooner than we would ever have thought.”
The first doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab arrived in the North of Ireland last week after it was approved by UK regulators.
It has an efficacy rate of as high as 95%.
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