Europe has launched the coronavirus vaccination campaign

This Sunday the vaccination against the coronavirus was launched in the countries of the European Union. A 96-year-old woman was the first person vaccinated in Spain and there were three privileged people from the health sector in Italy. But the color note was given in Germany, where on Saturday there was a 101 years ahead in the campaign against Covid-19.

In Italy, vaccination began at 7.20 a.m. on Sunday at Lazaro Spallanzani Hospital in Rome.

The selection of the first three vaccinated had a high symbolic charge. One of them was Maria Capobianchi, biologist in charge of the virology laboratory who, last February, isolated the coronavirus for the first time. Nurse Claudia Alivernini and health worker Omar Altobelli were also “privileged”.

“I say it with my heart: let’s all get vaccinated, for our loved ones and for the community”, were the first words after being vaccinated in one of the rooms of the Spallanzani hospital by the nurse of this center Claudia Alivernini, 29 years old.

Spallanzani Director of Virology Rosaria Capobianchi said: “I feel very good, I am excited. I hope that this privilege will return to everyone soon.” Moreover, he warned that the victory could not yet be claimed.

“Today Italy is waking up. It is Vaccine Day. That date will remain with us forever. Let’s start with health workers and the most vulnerable groups, and then extend the possibility of obtaining immunity to the entire population and to defeat this virus definitively, ”Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte wrote on Twitter.

For its part, a 96 year old woman he was the first person vaccinated in Spain.

At 9 a.m. (local time), Araceli, residing in a center for the elderly in the city of Guadalajara (center), received the puncture against Covid-19. After her, a 40-year-old worker, Mónica, from the same public residence, called Los Olmos, was vaccinated.

After receiving their first doses – in 21 days they will receive a second puncture – Araceli and Mónica have encouraged people to get vaccinated. “Let’s see if we all behave and we make the virus go away, ”said the nonagenarian, after making sure she did not feel any bites or discomfort when they gave her the vaccine.

The first to receive the vaccine in Spain will be the elderly and people with disabilities who live in residences and workers in these centers, where Covid-19 has wreaked havoc in the first wave of the pandemic and whose residents have been isolated. during all these pandemic months.

Front-line health workers will also be vaccinated during this initial phase; other health and nursing home staff and large non-institutionalized dependents.

Where there was surprise was in Germany. There, a 101-year-old woman became this Saturday a “step forward” in the European campaign, when receiving the vaccine one day before what was stipulated.

“The minister wishes the best to Edith Kwoizalla. However, we had agreed with the partners of the European Union (EU) and the 16” Länder “that on Saturday, supplies would be ready to start on Sunday,” said a spokesperson. from the Ministry of Health, to the newspaper “Bild”.

Kwoizalla received on Saturday the first dose of the vaccine developed by the German pharmaceutical company BioNTech, associated with the American Pfizer. It was by decision of the authorities of this district, who considered that “it was useless to wait another day”, because everything was “ready”, declared Tobias Krüger, director of the retirement home.

The 40 residents and ten employees of the residence in Halberstadt (east of the country), in the “Land” of Saxony Anhalt, have been vaccinated, according to local media, while in the rest of the country it continued to be reported that the campaign started on Sunday. .

In the initial phase, it is inoculated directly into nursing homes, where mobile vaccination teams are transferred. In the following days, 440 vaccination centers across the country will open. It is expected to administer some 700,000 weekly doses from January.

With information from EFE