WARSAW, Poland (AP) – The countries of the European Union officially launched a coordinated effort on Sunday to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to some of the most vulnerable among their nearly 450 million people, marking a moment of hope in the the continent’s fight against the worst public health crisis in a century.
On Sunday morning, shots were administered to health workers, the elderly and some prominent politicians to reassure the public that the vaccinations are safe.
In Prague, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis received his shot at sunrise, claiming, “You don’t have to worry about anything.” In Rome, five doctors and nurses wearing white scrubs sat in a semicircle at the Spallanzani Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Rome to receive their doses.
“Getting vaccinated is an act of love and responsibility towards the collective whole,” said Claudia Alivernini, a 29-year-old Spallanzani nurse, on the eve of being the first to receive the vaccine in Italy, where the virus was infected. Europe is worth it. more than 71,000 dead.
Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza, speaking outside the hospital, said the coordinated EU rollout was a sign of hope for the continent, but that people will not be able to lower the watch for several more months.
“We still have difficult months ahead,” he said. “It’s a beautiful day, but we still have to be careful … this vaccine is the true way to end this difficult season.”
The vaccines, developed by German BioNTech and American drug manufacturer Pfizer, arrived in super cold containers at EU hospitals from a factory in Belgium on Friday. The EU has seen some of the world’s earliest and most affected virus hotspots, including Italy and Spain.
Other EU countries, such as the Czech Republic, were spared the worst early on, but saw their health care collapse in the fall.
In total, the EU’s 27 countries have recorded at least 16 million coronavirus infections and more than 336,000 deaths – massive numbers that experts still agree that the true toll of the pandemic due to missed cases and limited testing is underestimated.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen released a video on Saturday celebrating the introduction of the vaccine and calling it “a moving moment of unity”.
The campaign should alleviate frustrations that built up, especially in Germany, when Britain, Canada and the United States started their vaccination programs with the same vaccine weeks earlier.
It turned out that some EU vaccinations started a day early in Germany, Hungary and Slovakia. The operator of a German nursing home where dozens of people were vaccinated on Saturday, including a 101-year-old woman, said: “Every day we wait is one day too much.”
Each country decides for itself who gets the first shots. Spain, France and Germany, among others, promise to put the elderly and residents of nursing homes first.
Poland is also prioritizing doctors, nurses and others on the front lines of the fight against the virus. The Central European nation was largely spared the wave that hit Western Europe in the spring, but has seen high daily infections and deaths this fall.
EU leaders are counting on the roll-out of vaccines to help the bloc develop a sense of unity in a complex life-saving mission after a year of struggles negotiating a post-Brexit trade deal with Britain.
“It is here, the good news at Christmas,” said German Health Minister Jens Spahn. “This vaccine is the decisive key to ending this pandemic … it is the key to getting our lives back.”
Politicians planning to get virus injections on Sunday to promote wider acceptance of vaccinations include Slovak President Zuzana Caputova and Bulgarian Health Minister Kostadin Angelov.
The first cases of a new virus variant, which is spreading rapidly around London and southern England, have now been discovered in France and Spain. The new variant, which, according to British authorities, is much easier to transfer, has led to European countries, the United States and China imposing new travel restrictions on people from Britain.
German pharmaceutical company BioNTech is confident that its coronavirus vaccine works against the new British variant, but said further studies are needed to be absolutely sure.
On January 6, the European Medicines Agency will consider approving a second coronavirus vaccine, one from Moderna, which is already approved for use in the United States.
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