European Union member states, including France, Italy,
Austria, Portugal and Spain have since launched mass inoculation programs
against the novel virus with many countries starting with health care workers.
DW reports that the first shipments of the two-dose vaccine
from Pfizer arrived across the EU late Friday and early Saturday.
Each member nation has been tasked with taking the lead on
how to implement the rollout, with three member states — Germany, Hungary and
Slovakia — starting vaccinations a day early on Saturday.
Just hours after the vaccines arrived in Slovakia,
authorities began administering their first doses on Saturday evening.
Front-line medical staff in hospitals treating COVID-19 patients were among the
first to get the vaccine.
President Zuzana Caputova was scheduled to get vaccinated on
Sunday.
Slovakia was the second EU country after Hungary to start
the vaccination campaign immediately after the arrival of the first doses,
upsetting plans for a coordinated rollout on Sunday of the first COVID shots
across the 27-nation European Union.
Millions of initial doses produced
From Sweden to Cyprus, Lithuania to Italy, the push to get
people their first shots is now underway, 11 months after the first cases were
reported in Europe.
EU leaders have dubbed the launch of the drive “V-Day”, a
moment of unity in a pandemic that has killed more than 1.7 million people
worldwide.
Edith Kwoizalla, 101, was one of the first Germans to be
vaccinated at a care home in Saxony-Anhalt.
Elderly population a priority
Edith Kwoizalla, aged 101, was one of the first Germans to
be vaccinated. She took the first of two doses at a care home in the eastern
state of Saxony-Anhalt on Saturday, a day before the official launch.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn said he expected 1.3
million doses to be delivered by the end of the year, with double that number
by the end of January.
Mobile teams deployed across Germany
The country is largely relying on mobile teams to distribute
the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine, such as here at a care home in Grossräschen, in
Germany’s eastern Brandenburg state.
Most of the more than 400 planned vaccination centres will
not be up and running until the next few days.
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is expected to work against the
new variant.
The vaccine, developed partly by a German firm, has been
snapped up by governments around the world.
BioNTech has “scientific confidence” that its coronavirus
vaccine will also work on the new variant detected in the UK, company CEO Ugur
Sahin told DW. The proteins on the mutated form of the virus were 99% the same
as the prevailing virus, he said.
Hungarian soldiers carry the first shipment of
Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines at the Del-Pest Central
Hospital in Budapest
Hungary starts a day early
Hungary began vaccinating health care workers on Saturday, a
day ahead of the EU’s planned start date. Hungary has recorded over 316,000
cases and more than 9,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Polish paramedics vaccinated first
A Warsaw paramedic was one of the first people to receive
the vaccine in Poland on Sunday.
The first batch of 10,000 doses was transported from
Pfizer’s facility in Belgium to a warehouse in central Poland a day earlier.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called the launch “a great step in fighting
the epidemic.”
Politicians aim to ease concerns
EU leaders and scientists have gone to great lengths to
insist the vaccine is safe. In the Czech Republic, Prime Minister Andrej Babis
(seen here) was at the head of the line for his vaccination on Sunday. In
Vienna, three women and two men over the age of 80 got the vaccine in the
presence of Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
‘I didn’t feel anything’: first Swedish patient
Sweden, which has received praise and criticism for its
looser handling of the pandemic, is expecting an initial batch of 10,000 shots,
along with Norway. Denmark expects to have enough shots to initially vaccinate
40,000 people in care homes, followed by health care staff and those people
with a high risk of illness. Iceland will receive 10,000 doses early in
January.
Andreas Raounas, 84, becomes the first patient on the island
of Cyprus to receive the coronavirus vaccine.
First doses arrive in Cyprus
An 84-year-old man became the first patient to receive the
coronavirus vaccine in Cyprus. While Europe has some of the best-resourced
health care systems in the world, the sheer scale of the effort means some
countries are calling on retired medics to help. Other countries have loosened
rules for who is allowed to give the injections.
Vaccinations begin in Austria
A health care worker at the Hospital Favoriten in Vienna was
one of the first in line to receive the vaccine. Austria is rolling the vaccine
out through a three-stage program, starting with health care workers and people
over the age of 65. Austria has recorded over 350,000 cases and more than 5,800
deaths since the start of the pandemic.
France: A million vaccinations by February
Mauricette, a 78-year-old French woman, was the first person
to receive a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at the Rene-Muret hospital in
Sevran, on the outskirts of Paris. France is aiming to vaccinate the first
million people by the end of February. The country has been one of the hardest
hit in Europe, with over 2.6 million recorded cases and nearly 63,000 deaths.
Thumbs up in Italy
Italy began distributing the first batch of 10,000 shots on
Sunday at the Niguarda hospital in Milan (seen here). In Rome, a 29-year-old
nurse was the first to receive the jab at Rome’s Lazzaro Spallanzani National
Institute for Infectious Diseases. Health workers were first in line, with
those over 80 to follow.
Portugal aims for 10% of the population
The first phase of Portugal’s vaccine rollout aims to
inoculate 10% of the population, with front-line workers and those over 50 with
preexisting conditions taking priority. Here, a medical worker receives the
vaccine at Santa Maria hospital in Lisbon.
Ambitious rollout in Spain
Spain is set to receive 350,000 doses from Pfizer-BioNTech
per week, with a total of nearly 4.6 million to be delivered over the next
three months. The government has said it aims to vaccinate between 15 million
and 20 million people in the first half of 2021. Here, a 72-year-old receives
the first injection at the Vallecas nursing home in Madrid.
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