The first batch of Covid-19 vaccines arrived into Ireland on St Stephen's day last year. The doors of a lorry were opened to reveal the slightly belated Christmas present - two solitary white boxes.
Inside, there were around 10,000 doses of vaccine from manufacturer Pfizer/BioNTech. The supply was small and the task was enormous: to vaccinate the population. Humble beginnings "Two very unremarkable cardboard boxes arrived.
It was an emotional moment, but somewhat underwhelming as a visual," remarked Professor Brian MacCraith, who chaired a high level taskforce which oversaw the vaccine roll-out.
Three days later, on 29 December, the first doses made their way into the arms of their first recipients: Annie Lynch, a patient at St James's