Covid: EU launches mass vaccination in ‘touching moment of unity’



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A plane plotted a syringe in the air over southern Germany on Wednesday to celebrate the vaccine’s arrival, according to an image from flightradar24.com

The EU is launching a coordinated deployment of vaccines to fight Covid-19, in what the bloc’s top official calls a “moving moment of unity”.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Saturday that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had been delivered to the 27 member states.

Some countries started administering the jabs on Saturday, saying they weren’t ready to wait for another day.

The EU has so far reported more than 335,000 Covid-related deaths.

More than 14 million people have been infected and strict lockdown measures are currently in place in almost all member states.

The vaccine rollout comes as cases of the most contagious variant of Covid-19 are confirmed in several European countries as well as in Canada and Japan.

News of the new variant triggered travel restrictions around the world last week.

What’s the latest on the vaccine rollout?

Mass vaccination of the 446 million EU inhabitants is expected to start in the coming hours.

Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine boxes unloaded in North Rhine-Westphalia

It comes after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Commission authorized the German-American vaccine Pfizer-BioNTech.

The EU has secured contracts for more than two billion doses of vaccine from various pharmaceutical companies.

“Today we are starting to turn the page on a difficult year. The # COVID19 vaccine has been delivered to all EU countries. Vaccination will start tomorrow across the EU, ”Ms von der Leyen tweeted on Saturday.

“The #EUvaccinationdays are a moving moment of unity. Vaccination is the sustainable way out of the pandemic, ”she added.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Saturday: “It really is a merry Christmas message. At the moment, trucks equipped with the first vaccines are circulating throughout Europe, all over Germany, in all federal states. Further deliveries will follow the day after tomorrow.

“This vaccine is the crucial key to beating the pandemic. This is the key so that we can regain our lives. “

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio urged his compatriots to receive the beatings. “We will find our freedom, we will be able to kiss each other again,” he said.

Health workers in northeastern Germany decided not to wait until Sunday and began vaccinating elderly residents of a nursing home in Halberstadt.

In Hungary, the first vaccine recipient was a doctor at Del-Pest central hospital on Saturday, according to the official news agency.

The Slovak authorities have also declared that they have started to vaccinate.

A healthcare worker fills a syringe with the vaccine at the university hospital in Nitra, Slovakia



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