BERLIN (Reuters) – A 101-year-old woman became the first German to be vaccinated against the coronavirus on Saturday, a day ahead of the official launch of the country’s vaccine campaign, local broadcaster MDR reported.
The woman, from Halberstadt in the Harz mountain range, lives in a care home for the elderly, where 40 residents as well as 11 workers were vaccinated, MDR said.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn said earlier on Saturday that trucks were on track to deliver the vaccine to nursing homes, which are initially receiving the vaccine.
The federal government plans to distribute more than 1.3 million vaccine doses to local health authorities by the end of this year and about 700,000 per week since January.
“There may be a few hits at one time or another at first, but that’s normal when such a complex process begins logically,” Spahn said.
Germany, with a population of 83 million, has built more than 400 vaccination centers, including places like the former Tegel and Tempelhof airports in Berlin and the Hamburg trade fair hall.
Vaccines will be free and available to everyone from mid-2021, when the priority groups are expected to have completed vaccination campaigns. It is not a duty to be included.
The number of COVID-19 cases diagnosed in Germany rose from 14,455 to 1,627,103, data from the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases showed on Saturday. In all, more than 29,000 people have died.
Reciting with Arno Schuetze; Edited by Leslie Adler