LONDON — William Shakespeare from Warwickshire in England was one of the first people to receive the newly approved COVID-19 vaccine outside a clinical trial on Tuesday.

The 81-year-old had the injection at University Hospital Coventry on Tuesday, 20 miles from Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of his namesake, England's greatest dramatist and poet.

Shakespeare's shot inspired Twitter users, who joked "The Taming of the Flu", "The Two Gentlemen of Corona". Some asked if Margaret Keenan was patient 1A, then was Shakespeare "Patient 2B or not 2B?"

RELATED STORIES:

• ‘Fantastic moment’: Filipino nurse injects historic COVID-19 vaccine to British grandma
• British grandma 1st in world to get Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine outside trial

Britain is the first country globally to begin mass inoculations with that vaccine, one of three shots that have reported successful results from large trials after being developed in record time.

The launch will fuel hope that the world may be turning a corner in the fight against a pandemic that has killed more than 1.5 million people and crushed economies.

Britain, the worst-hit European country with over 61,000 deaths, has ordered enough supplies of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot to vaccinate 20 million people. The developers said it was 95% effective in preventing illness in final-stage trials.

Russia and China have both already started giving domestically produced vaccine candidates to their populations, though before final safety and efficacy trials have been completed.

WATCH: British grandma 1st in world to get Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine outside trial | ABS-CBN News

Watch more in iWantv or TFC.tv