ROME (AP) – European Union (EU) nations on Sunday launched a joint effort to vaccinate the most vulnerable people in the continent’s worst health crisis in a century, with a moment of hope. .
Health care activists, the elderly and leading politicians reassured people that the vaccine was safe and that people got some first shots from the 27-nation group to represent the best chance of coming out of the epidemic.
“He was not harmed,” said Mihila Enghel, a nurse at the Matthias Bals Institute in Bucharest, the first person to receive the vaccine in Romania. “Open your eyes and get vaccinated.”
In Rome, five doctors and nurses dressed in white scrubs sat in a semi-circle at the Splenza Infectious Diseases Hospital to get their doses.
“The message is one of hope, trust and an invitation to share this choice,” said one of the recipients, Dr. Maria Rosaria Capobianchi, head of the virus science laboratory at Splenzani, said she was part of a team isolating the virus in early February. . “No reason to worry.”
Italian virus Tsar Domenico Arcuri said it was noteworthy that Italy’s first vaccine was given at Dos Splenzani, where a Chinese couple visiting Wuhan tested positive in January and it became Italy’s first confirmed case. Only later would North Lombardy become the epicenter of the eruption in Europe. Italy now has the continent’s worst confirmed virus death toll at about 72,000.
“Today is a beautiful, symbolic day: all the citizens of Europe have started taking their vaccines together, the first ray of light after a long night,” Arkuri told reporters outside the hospital.
But he warned: “We all need to be reasonable, careful, and responsible. We still have a long way to go, but in the end we see a little light.
The vaccine, developed by German bioentech and American drug maker Pfizer, began arriving in super-cold containers at EU hospitals from a Belgian factory on Friday.
At the Los Almos Nursing Home in Guadalajara, a Spanish city northeast of Madrid, a one-year-old resident and a caregiver were the first Spaniards to receive the vaccine.
“Let’s see if we can all behave and get rid of this virus,” said Arseli Hidalgo, an elderly resident, after taking the injection.
In the spring the Czech Republic was saved from the worst of the epidemics, as its health care system was seen nearing collapse in the fall. In Prague, Czech Prime Minister Andrzej Babis received his shot on Sunday morning and insisted: “There is nothing to worry about.” Sitting next to him in a wheelchair was World War II’s Pte Emily Repikova, who also received a shot.
At the same time, at least 16 million coronavirus infections and more than 336,000 deaths have been reported in the 27 EU nations – experts still agree to reduce the true toll of the epidemic due to missed cases and limited tests.
Getting all those shots will have to come back in three weeks for a second dose.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen released a video on Saturday celebrating the vaccine rollout, calling it a “touching moment of unity”. The vaccination campaign should alleviate frustrations, especially in Germany, as Britain, Canada and the United States launched their inoculation programs with the same vaccine weeks ago.
As it turned out, some EU vaccinations started a day early In Germany, Hungary and Slovakia. The operator of a German nursing home, where dozens of people, including a 101-year-old woman, were vaccinated on Saturday, said: “One day is too much for us to wait every day.”
Each EU country decides for itself who gets the first shot, with a pledge to put most seniors and residents in nursing homes.
European Union leaders are calculating a vaccine rollout to help the bloc project to allow a spirit of unity in a complex life-saving campaign after a year of difficulties in negotiating a post-Brexit trade deal with Britain.
“Here it is – Christmas is good news,” said German Health Minister Jens Spaan. “This vaccine is the key to ending this epidemic … it is the key to getting our lives back.”
Among the politicians who planned to get the virus shot on Sunday to promote widespread acceptance of vaccinations were Slovak President Zuzana Caputova and Bulgarian Health Minister Kostadin Angelov.
Meanwhile, the first cases of the new virus, which spread rapidly around London and the south of England, have now been found in France and Spain. British officials said the new type, being more easily transmitted, would lead to new restrictions on travel by people from European countries, the United States and China to Britain.
Japan became the latest country to take action, announcing that it would temporarily ban all non-resident foreigners from entering the UK as a precaution against the new currency.
Germany’s Bioentech has said it is confident its coronavirus vaccine works against a new variant of the UK, but added that further studies need to be fully determined.
The European Medicines Agency will consider approving a second coronavirus vaccine on January 6, this one by Moderna, already in use in the United States.
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Gera reported from Poland years ago.
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