EU launches COVID-19 vaccination campaign

Even though a few countries started taking doses early in the day, the coordinated release for the 27-nation bloc aimed to deliver a unified message that vaccination was safe and the best chance in Europe to come out of the pandemic and the economic devastation caused by months of population lock-in.

For health care workers who have been battling the virus with just masks and shields to protect themselves, the vaccines represented emotional relief as well as a public opportunity to persuade 450 million people in Europe get the sights for their own health and the health of others.

“Today I am here as a citizen, but especially as a nurse, to represent my department and all the health workers who choose to believe in science,” said Claudia Alivernini, 29, who was a first of five doctors and nurses at Spallanzani infectious disease hospital in Rome to get the vaccine.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called the vaccine – which was developed in an unprecedented time – a “game-changer. “

“We know that today is not the end of the pandemic, but it is the beginning of the impact,” he said.

Italian virus czar Domenico Arcuri said it was important that the first doses in Italy were given at Spallanzani, where a Chinese couple from Wuhan tested positive in January and were the first confirmed cases in Italy.

Within weeks, northern Lombardy became the mainstay of the revolution in Europe and the warning story of what happens when even affluent areas are prepared for a pandemic. Lombardy still makes up about a third of the dead in Italy, which has the worst confirmed virus count at nearly 72,000 dead.

“Today is a beautiful, symbolic day: European citizens together begin to receive their vaccination, the first rays of light after a long night,” Arcuri told reporters .

But he warned: “We all need to continue to be careful, cautious and responsible. We still have a long way to go, but finally we see some light.”

The vaccine developed by German manufacturer BioNTech and American drug maker Pfizer began arriving in very cold containers at EU hospitals on Friday from a factory in Belgium. Each country received only a fraction of the required doses – less than 10,000 in the first bag – with the expected greater release in January when more vaccines become available. Everyone who gets shots on Sunday must come back for a second dose in three weeks.

Ursula von der Leyen, head of the EU Regulatory Commission, said with more vaccines in development, the EU will have more vaccines than is necessary for all Europeans in 2021. She pointed out that the bloc could block the sources to share more with the western Balkans and African countries.

“Europe is in a good position,” she said.

At the Los Olmos nursing home in the Spanish city of Guadalajara, northeast of Madrid, Araceli Hidalgo, a 96-year-old resident and caregiver was the first Spaniard to receive the vaccine .

“Let’s see if we can all be polite and get rid of this virus,” said Hidalgo.

The Los Olmos home suffered two confirmed COVID-19 deaths and a further 11 deaths among residents with undiagnosed symptoms.

“What we want is for as many people as possible to get the vaccine,” said Manica Tapias, the 48-year-old home worker.

The Czech Republic was rescued as the worst of the pandemic in the spring only so they could see the health care system close to collapse in the fall. In Prague, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis was drafted on Sunday morning and said: “There is nothing to worry about.” Seated next to him was World War II veteran Emilie Repikova, who was also shot.

In total, the 27 EU nations have recorded at least 16 million coronavirus diseases and more than 336,000 deaths – large numbers that experts say still underline the true tolls of pandemic disease as due to missed cases and limited testing.

The vaccination campaign should alleviate growing complaints, especially in Germany, when Britain, Canada and the United States began their inoculation programs with the same vaccine weeks earlier.

Coincidentally, some EU vaccines started early in Germany, Hungary and Slovakia. A German nursing home operator where dozens were vaccinated Saturday, including a 101-year-old woman, said, “every day we wait one day is too much.”

In France, where the safety of vaccines is widely questioned, the French government has been cautious in its messages and wants to ensure that imposing vaccines on the public is not seen. The first French vaccination at a nursing home in a poor area outside Paris on Sunday was not broadcast on live television as it was elsewhere in Europe and government ministers were not present.

“We didn’t need to believe her. She said she was ready for anything to get this disease,” said Dr. Samir Tine, head of geriatric services for Sevran nursing home where the first vaccination scene in France went to 78-year-old Mauricette.

“It’s an important day,” said Tine. “We really want to have a new weapon and we really want to rediscover our normal lives.”

Among the politicians who received shots Sunday to adopt a broader vaccine was Bulgarian Health Minister Kostadin Angelov.

“I can’t wait.” At the same time, a new virus strain that has spread rapidly around London and the south of England has now been detected in France, Italy, Spain, Canada and Japan. The new variant, which British authorities said is easier to move, has prompted many countries to restrict travel from Britain.

Japan has announced that it will temporarily ban all non-resident foreigners from entering by 31 January as a warning against the new UK variable.

BioNTech of Germany has said it is confident its vaccine is working against the new version in the UK, but said further studies are needed to be absolutely certain.

The European Medicines Agency on January 6 will consider approving another coronavirus vaccine made by Moderna, which is already in use in the United States.

Andreas Raouna, 84, said he was honored to be among the first to be shot in Cyprus and criticized vaccine suspects for having a league with a murderer. “

“If the coronavirus hits you, that’s the end of you,” he said.