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The launch of Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 in Europe is underway following approval Monday by the European Medicines Agency.
Spain received its first doses of the vaccine, a day before the country begins its immunization campaign.
A refrigerated truck arrived at Pfizer’s warehouse in Guadalajara, central Spain, with the shipment, three days after it left the company’s factory in Puurs, in northeast Belgium, the Health Ministry said in a statement. .
After repackaging, the vaccines will be redistributed to the 17 autonomous communities of Spain so that vaccination can begin throughout the country as planned on Sunday, he added.
Spain will receive 4.5 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine over the next 12 weeks, enough to vaccinate about 2.3 million people, according to the ministry.
It plans to vaccinate elderly residents and nursing home staff first, then healthcare workers and other vulnerable people, such as the elderly and people with underlying health problems.
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The government expects to have between 15 and 20 million people of its population of 47 million vaccinated against the virus in June.
Spain has been one of the countries in Europe most affected by the pandemic, with the virus infecting more than 1.8 million people and causing almost 50,000 deaths, according to figures from the Ministry of Health.
Hungary starts vaccination against coronavirus
Hungary began vaccinating healthcare workers against the coronavirus with the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, a day earlier than in most other countries in the European Union.
Hungary received a first shipment of coronavirus vaccines this morning that will be enough to inoculate 4,875 people, the state news agency MTI reported.
“We have started vaccinations among healthcare workers according to a previously defined plan,” said a government spokesman.
The first worker to receive the vaccine was Adrienne Kertesz, a doctor at Hospital Central Del-Pest.
The distribution of the Pfizer-BioNTech injection presents great challenges because it uses a new genetic mRNA technology, which means that it must be stored at ultra-low temperatures of around -70 degrees Celsius.
Earlier this month, the UK became the first country in the world to implement the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Until today, Hungary had reported 315,362 cases of Covid-19 with 8,951 deaths. More than 6,000 people remain hospitalized for the virus, putting the health system to the test.
The first doses of the Covid vaccine arrive in France
France’s first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine were delivered to the central pharmacy of the Paris hospital system outside the capital.
After more than 62,000 deaths from Covid-19 in France, injections will begin tomorrow with people in two nursing homes, the same day the rest of the EU begins to inject.
A refrigerated truck brought the roughly 19,500 doses from Pfizer’s factory in Puurs, northeast Belgium, to Paris, the capital’s APHP hospital authority said, and pharmacy chief Franck Huet called it a “historic” moment in the pandemic.
After repackaging in Paris, the vaccines will be delivered to a long-term care unit at a hospital in Sevran, on the outskirts of the capital, and to a nursing home in Dijon, eastern France.
The first EU deliveries come after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave the green light to Pfizer-BioNTech on Monday and to the French health authority HAS on Thursday.
Countries are especially eager to start their vaccination campaigns, as a new strain believed to be more infectious is spreading from Britain. Yesterday a first case was identified in France.
But large-scale vaccinations for residents and staff of France’s 7,000 nursing homes won’t start until early next year.
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