Europe is rolling out ‘new gun vaccines’ to beat COVID

MADRID / ROME (Reuters) – Europe launched a massive COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Sunday with retirees and medics lining up to capture the first photos of a pandemic that has paralyzed economies and claimed more than 1.7 million lives worldwide.

“Thank goodness,” said 96-year-old Araceli Hidalgo as she became the first person in Spain to receive a vaccine at her nursing home in Guadalajara, near the capital, Madrid.

“Let’s see if we can make this virus disappear.”

In Italy, the first country in Europe to register a significant number of infections, 29-year-old nurse Claudia Alivernini was one of three medical staff members leading the line for the shot developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.

“It’s the beginning of the end … it was an exciting, historic moment,” she said at the Spallanzani hospital in Rome.

The region of 450 million people is trying to catch up with the United States and Great Britain, who have already started vaccinations with the Pfizer shot.

The European Union will receive 12.5 million doses by the end of the year, enough to vaccinate 6.25 million people on the two-dose regimen. The companies are struggling to meet global demand and aim to take 1.3 billion photos next year.

The bloc has contracts with a range of drug manufacturers besides Pfizer, including Moderna and AstraZeneca, for a total of more than two billion vaccine doses and has a goal of vaccinating all adults by 2021.

With studies pointing to major hesitations about the vaccine in countries from France to Poland, European Union leaders of 27 countries are promoting it as the best chance to return to something like normal life next year.

“We have a new weapon against the virus: the vaccine. We have to stand firm again, ”tweeted French President Emmanuel Macron, who tested positive for the corona virus this month and left quarantine on Christmas Eve.

But Ireneusz Sikorski, 41, who left the church in the Polish capital of Warsaw, was skeptical.

“I don’t think there is a vaccine in history that has been tested so quickly,” he said. “I’m not saying that vaccination shouldn’t take place. But I am not going to test an unverified vaccine on my children or myself. “

COOLING WORRIES

Injection distribution presents a severe challenge as the vaccine uses new mRNA technology and must be stored at approximately -70 degrees Celsius (-112 ° F).

In Germany, the campaign was delayed in several cities after a temperature tracker showed that about 1,000 shots may not have been kept cold enough during transit.

BioNtech said it was responsible for shipping to the 25 German distribution centers and that federal states and local authorities were responsible for shipping to the vaccination centers and the mobile vaccination teams.

“The temperature fluctuations have occurred here. We are in contact with many authorities to give advice, but it is up to them how to proceed, ”said a spokeswoman.

Authorities in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, an area affected, later said BioNTech had approved the vaccines.

“BioNTech has confirmed the quality of the vaccination shots,” said a spokeswoman. “The vaccination program can start (in our region).”

The Pfizer shots used in Europe were shipped from the factory in Puurs, Belgium, in specially designed containers filled with dry ice. They can be stored for up to six months in Antarctic winter temperatures, or five days at 2 ° C to 8 ° C, a type of refrigeration commonly available in hospitals.

In Italy, solar-powered health pavilions designed to look like five-leaf primrose flowers – a symbol of spring – sprouted in city squares when the vaccination campaign began.

Portugal has set up separate cold stores for its Atlantic archipelagos Madeira and the Azores.

German pilot Samy Kramer celebrated the vaccination campaign by tracing a giant syringe in the air. It flew 200 km (125 miles) and followed a syringe-shaped route that appeared on the flightradar24 internet site.

‘FIRST MAN ON THE MOON’

The urge to vaccinate is all the more urgent due to concerns about new variants of the virus linked to a rapid increase in cases in Great Britain and South Africa.

“We know that the pandemic will not just disappear from today, but the vaccine is the start of the pandemic victory, the vaccine is a game changer,” said Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

Cases of the British variant have been discovered in Australia, Hong Kong and Europe, especially recently in Sweden, France, Norway and the Portuguese island of Madeira. So far, scientists say there is no evidence to suggest that the vaccines developed will be less effective against the new variants.

While Europe has some of the best-funded healthcare systems in the world, the scale of the efforts means that some countries are asking retired physicians for help, while others have relaxed the rules on who can give the injections.

In addition to hospitals and nursing homes, sports halls and convention centers left empty due to lockdown restrictions will become locations for mass vaccinations.

The vaccinations have also started in Norway, which is not a member of the EU bloc.

“I feel like a historical figure … almost like the first man on the moon,” said nursing home resident Svein Andersen, 67, when he received the country’s first image in the capital, Oslo.

After European governments have been criticized for failing to cooperate to stop the spread of the virus in early 2020, this time the goal is to ensure equal access across the region.

But even then, Hungary jumped on the official rollout on Saturday by delivering shots to frontline workers at hospitals in the capital Budapest. The Netherlands said it will not start vaccinating until January 8.

Slovakia also continued with some vaccinations for medical staff on Saturday and in Germany a small number of people in a care home were also vaccinated one day early.