German health minister Jens Spahn unveiled a detailed plan for the country’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Friday, December 18. Speaking at a keynote news conference, he said “vulnerable” people would be a priority for the COVID vaccine -19. Germany, along with 26 other EU members, is expected to start mass inoculation on 27 December.
Extending further, he said Germany would receive limited doses of vaccines in the early days, making it important to give priority to people who need more. Spahn revealed that all citizens over the age of 80 were the first to receive it. In addendum, residents and nursing home staff would also be the main recipients.
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Urging residents to be patient, he said the vaccine would take the priority group at least two months saying the vaccination program could be extended immediately after that. “This means we all have a long winter ahead of us. We have to live with this virus for a long time,” Spahn was quoted as saying by ANI.
Read: Germany, Italy, New Zealand To start COVID-19 vaccines soon; Check out dates here
The vaccine developed by pharmaceutical giants BioNTech and Pfizer is expected to be approved by the European Medicines Agency next week. In that case, nearly three to four million doses would be available nationwide by January 2021, the German government said. Upon arrival, the vaccines would be given to local government according to population by distribution to citizens.
Germany, which reported the highest number of deaths due to COVID-19, also went into a tighter lock on December 16 with shops and schools closing down in a bid to eradicate the horrific spread of the novel coronavirus to smooth.
Vaccines in other EU countries
If the Pfizer-BioNTech injection is approved before Christmas, the 27 named members are expected to begin major inoculation by December 27. While the Italian health minister announced the COVID- vaccine 19 the “light at the end of the tune”, the country’s coronavirus Emergency commissioner Domenico Arcuri’s recommendation to launch major vaccines from January was also agreed on December 17. By restoring a similar approach to other countries, Italy would also vaccinate high-risk groups before introducing the same to the general population.
Read: Germany, Italy, New Zealand To start COVID-19 vaccines soon; Check out dates here
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