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ROME (Reuters) – Almost 10 months after the first Italian patient tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Italy vaccinated the first residents against COVID-19 on Sunday.
Shortly before 0700 GMT, three health workers at the Roma Spallanzani hospital were inoculated with the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, according to a statement from the commissioner for the epidemic Domenico Arcuri.
“The vaccine went very well and it was an exciting historic moment,” nurse Claudia Alivernini, 29, told RAINEWS24 state television.
“It is the beginning of the end and I hope to be the first of more than 60 million Italians.”
Italy on Thursday became the eighth country in the world to exceed 2 million officially registered cases. It has reported 70,909 deaths, the highest in Europe and the fifth highest in the world.
The vaccine will be free and health workers and the elderly will be the first to receive the voluntary inoculation.
Hungary and Slovakia began their vaccination campaigns on Saturday and other European Union countries joined Italy to launch the vaccines from Sunday, as the pandemic spreads across the continent.
About 9,750 doses have already arrived in Italy and another 470,000 are expected to arrive starting next week, the Health Ministry said.
“Today is a symbolic day that should give an idea of the beauty of Europe that has bought vaccines for all and distributed them,” said Commissioner Arcuri.
To aid the deployment of the vaccine, temporary solar-powered health pavilions will appear in city squares across the country, designed to look like five-petal primrose flowers, a symbol of spring.
(Reporting by Giselda Vagnoni; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
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