An Italian centenarian has become one of the oldest people in the world to get a Covid-19 vaccine, months after she survived a coronavirus infection, her retirement home said.

Fatima Negrini, who is due to turn 109 on June 3, received the jab on Monday along with other residents of the Anni Azzurri San Faustino care home in Milan, a spokesman told AFP.

“The arrival of the vaccine for her and all guests and staff… represents a moment of great happiness and a first step towards a return to peaceful everyday life inside the facility,” said Matteo Tessarollo.

When Negrini shook off the virus last year, the Corriere della Sera newspaper quoted her as saying: “God forgot about me.”

Italy began coronavirus vaccinations on December 27 and has since inoculated 1.15 million people.

On Monday, a vaccine was also given to Sami Modiano, a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor from Rome, according to regional president and leader of the centre-left Democratic Party Nicola Zingaretti.

Posting a picture of Modiano getting the jab on Twitter, Zingaretti called it “an image of trust and hope for everybody”.