LONDON, Jan 10: Queen Elizabeth (94 years) and her husband, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip (99 years), have been administered the vaccine for covid, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said on Saturday. They were inoculated by a palace doctor at the Windsor Castle, where they are staying currently. The vaccine they received has not been identified. The second of the two doses needed will be given them after 12 weeks, as per the inoculation schedule.

They are among around 1.5 million people in the UK to have had first dose of covid vaccine so far. Those aged above 80 years are given priority for vaccination. The UK was the first country to launch covid vaccination with Pfizer's, the first vaccine ever produced. Besides Pfizer's, the UK has now approved the vaccines of Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca also.

The 72-year-old Prince Charles, their son, had suffered a mild attack of covid in last March, as also Charles' son Prince William, the second-in-line to the throne, in April.

The UK has recorded 3 million cases and 80,000 deaths due to covid so far, with a surge in cases in the last one month, especially due to the quick transmission of the mutated coronavirus strain.

In London, hospitals are overflowing. "The situation in London is now critical with the spread of the virus out of control," Mayor Sadiq Khan said in a statement.

According to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, 15 million people will be vaccinated by next month. Health workers, the aged grid-wise and those with comorbidities will get the priority.