abc's julia macfarlane is there. julia, what are the expectations today? >> reporter: good morning, mona. well, today has been called v-day. it's really an exciting day as the first people get vaccinated outside of trial as this historic rollout begins. patient a this morning was a 90-year-old grandmother from northern ireland called margaret kenan who received her injection in coventry hospital and believe it or not the second person to be vaccinated was a william shakespeare from warwickshire and though they along with thousands more of people over age 80 deemed at the most high risk and therefore are at the top of the list for those getting the vaccine today. health care workers will also be vaccinated at the end of the day with any leftover doses. mona. >> julia, i want to ask you, are most british people open and willing to get the vaccine, or is it like here in the u.s. where there's some hesitation? >> reporter: right, recent studies indicate that this huge logistical operation is just part of the push against covid-19. there's also going to be a hu

abc's julia macfarlane has more from london. lia, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, dan. we have new details in from the british government detailing this mammoth task ahead, the biggest mass vaccination program in british history. the drug made by pfizer and biontech arrived on uk soil earlier this week transported on freezer trucks from the production facility in belgium, those vaccines that all of us have been waiting for are now in boxes at a number of secure locations across the uk, and over the next few days they're going to undergo a series of checks before being distributed. first they'll be administered from large hospitals that will already have that special equipment they need for sub-subzero temperatures they must be stored in before they are defrosted and ready for administering. the army is drafting in volunteers, and the national health service and health charities are reportedly hiring tens of thousands of extra staff to help with this rollout. many of them will be allocated to mass vaccination cente

we begin with julia macfarlane in london. >> reporter: tonight in britain, an evolving coronavirus and record rates of infection. cases in london and the southeast of england are skyrocketing. 35,000 today alone. a possible cause, a new variant of the virus that causes covid-19. prime minister boris johnson addressing the nation in an emergency broadcast last night. >> it may be up to 70% more transmissible. >> reporter: tonight, the british variation identified in rome. the patient and his partner arriving from the uk a few days ago into rome's fiumicino airport. both are now in isolation. several european countries now banning flights from britain. the u.s. has not taken similar measures, an omission new york's governor is calling "reprehensible." >> right now, this variant in the uk is getting on a plane and flying to jfk. how many times in life do you have to make the same mistake before you learn? it's grossly negligent. just like the spring. >> reporter: as recently as wednesday, johnson was still promising a nearly normal christmas. >> we don't want to, as i say, to ban christma

abc's julia macfarlane is in london with more. good morning to you, julia. >> reporter: good morning, eva. well, as far as political epitaphs go, the last thing boris johnson wants is to be remembered as the prime minister who canceled christmas, but that's how it looks this morning. in an emergency broadcast to the nation last night, johnson said a potentially highly infectious new variation of the virus is spreading rapidly. while he described it as possibly 70% more tranceable than the original virus that causes covid-19, so far no evidence to suggest that this new variant is more lethal or that the authorized vaccines are not effective against it. however, it does mean that for london and parts of england and wales, restrictions are now back and that a planned five-day amnesty for household mixing over christmas is now being scrapped. just days before christmas week. that triggering a stampede to get out of the capital. shops and businesses that had been able to re-open a couple of weeks ago for this, the busiest week of the ye