Under-18s without underlying health conditions are beginning to receive the vaccine this weekend.
Earlier this week, health officials announced the UK’s 1.4 million 16 and 17-year-olds are now eligible to get the jab.
Previously, under-18s could only be vaccinated if they had certain health conditions, lived with someone who is immunocompromised or were nearing their 18th birthday.
Friday saw walk-ins for older teenagers open across Northern Ireland and GP invites starting to land across the rest of the UK.
In England and Wales, the age group will receive invites from GP surgeries, with walk-in centres expected to open this week in the former.
Teenagers in Scotland can register their interest on the online portal from Friday and will then be sent an appointment by text or email.
Elliot Aston, 16, from County Down in Northern Ireland, said: ‘It’s good that they’re finally offering it to us because we are probably the ones that are out and about the most so I think it’s about time.’
The country’s health minister Robin Swann instructed officials to inoculate teenagers ‘as quickly as possible’ after the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisation (JCVI) changed their guidance.
Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where infection levels are not falling, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), with cases currently higher than at any point since January 23.
Uptake of first vaccine doses among 18 to 29-year-olds in the UK is highest in Wales, at 75%.
This is followed by 72.8% in the same age category in Scotland, 69.3% in England, and 63.9% in Northern Ireland.
The latest Government figures showed there had been a further 31,808 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases in the UK as of Friday.
NHS England said the number of coronavirus patients on English wards has dropped for the fourth day in a row, down to 4,879 as of 8am on Friday August 6.
This is 4.5% week-on-week from the 5,111 reported on Friday July 30 and the fourth day in a row that the number of beds occupied by confirmed Covid-19 patients has fallen.
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