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The European Union (EU) launched the first phase of its mass vaccination program on Sunday, with doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine delivered to all 27 member states.
The trading bloc faces a significant logistical challenge as vaccines are rolled out as a new variant of Covid-19 spreads across multiple countries.
“Today, we are starting to turn the page in a difficult year,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Twitter on Saturday.
“The [Covid-19] the vaccine has been delivered to all EU countries, “he said, adding that the rollout would start on Sunday.
The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine was licensed by the EU on December 21, amid a winter surge in cases.
The two-dose vaccine must be stored at ultra-low temperatures.
Some EU countries started their vaccinations a day earlier, with doses administered in Slovakia and Germany on Saturday.
On Sunday, vaccinations began in Italy, Spain and France, with a focus on frontline healthcare workers, nursing home residents and the elderly.
In Spain, the first person to receive a dose of the vaccine was a 96-year-old resident of a nursing home. The second was a staff member from the same house.
Italy has received 9,750 doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine. The first five people to receive it on Sunday were front-line medical and research workers.
“We have acted together throughout this pandemic. Today we begin to turn the page of this chapter, together,” said the The European Commission said on Twitter.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) continues its ongoing review of other promising candidate vaccines, including those from AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, and Johnson & Johnson.
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