The unnamed female nurse will be among the five members of staff at the hospital, including two doctors, a healthcare social worker and a researcher, to get the vaccine when the nationwide vaccination campaign begins on Sunday.
The Spallanzani hospital, which has played a central role in battling Italy’s coronavirus crisis, will act initially as the nation’s central hub for the distribution of the vaccine, which was approved by the European Commission and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Monday.
The vaccines are due to arrive in Italy on Christmas Eve and will then be distributed across the country by the Italian military.
The imminent arrival of the vaccine comes as the new COVID-19 strain sweeping through Britain has been confirmed in a person who returned to Rome in recent days from the UK and has been isolated at the Spallanzani hospital.
Walter Ricciardi, a senior advisor to the Italian Health Ministry, was quoted in Rome newspaper Il Messaggero as saying he was “angry” with the UK for “staying quiet” and “not warning us” about the mutated coronavirus strain, despite knowing it was “in circulation since September”.
Ricciardi said the new strain is not any more lethal, but it circulates more than 70 to 80 per cent faster.
He also believes that the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine will still be effective against the new variant.
Italians authorities stressed that vaccines would not be immediately distributed to the general population, but would be rolled out first to high-risk groups including medical staff and the elderly.
Doctors and health care workers will get the first doses – some 1.4 million people – the health ministry said.
They will be followed by residents in care homes – just over 570,000 people.
Those aged over 80 will be next in line, followed by those aged 60 to 79, and those suffering from at least one chronic disease.
Vaccines will then be distributed to key workers, such as teachers, police officers and prison wardens.
After that, it will be offered to the general population at walk-in centres and specially-designed pop-up kiosks.
The vaccine will be free and will not be compulsory in Italy.
