The EU begins to vaccinate to end the ‘nightmare’ of COVID-19

Dr. Massimo Vajani, president of the Medical College of the province of Lodi, receives one of the first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at the Civico hospital, in Codogno, northern Italy, on December 27, 2020, where the first vaccine in the country is found. patient was diagnosed. (Photo by FLAVIO LO SCALZO / POOL / AFP)

PARIS, France – EU countries embarked on a vaccination campaign Sunday to defeat the “nightmare” of COVID-19, with the first to be immunized voicing their excitement after their jab and leaders hailing a milestone in the fight the pandemic.

The vaccine is a ray of hope for a continent yearning for a return to normal from a pandemic that has killed 1.76 million people worldwide since it emerged in China late last year and caused at least 80 million. confirmed cases, according to an AFP count.

But surveys have shown that many Europeans are unwilling to receive the vaccine, which could impede its effectiveness in fighting the virus, while it will take months to immunize a large part of the population.

“It is with deep pride and a deep sense of responsibility that I received the vaccine today. A small gesture, but a fundamental gesture for all of us, ”said Claudia Alivernini, 29, an Italian nurse who was the first in her country to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech jab on Sunday morning.

In Greece, the first in line was nurse Efstathia Kampissiouli, who showed a V-shaped sign while she was being vaccinated and then told Ert TV that it was “a great honor for me, but also for those who work in the first line”.

The director of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, praised the start of the campaign as a “moving moment of unity and a European success story”, adding that the process “will help us to recover our normal life gradually.”

However, countries are displaying different strategies, with Italy focusing on healthcare workers, France the elderly and the Czech Republic, Greece and Slovakia political leaders leading the queue.

– Things ‘could get worse’ –

But the introduction of the vaccine around the world is far from the end of the crisis. In a grim assessment, top US government scientist Anthony Fauci warned Sunday that “as we move into the next few weeks, it could actually get worse.”

Israel began a two-week national lockdown on Sunday, the third since the pandemic began, after a sharp spike in the infection rate.

A new strain of the virus that emerged in Britain has already reached several other European countries, as well as Japan, Canada and Jordan, and has heightened fears of further havoc from Covid-19.

The new strain, which experts believe is more contagious, prompted more than 50 countries to impose travel restrictions on the UK.

Echoing the concerns of officials across the continent, Health Minister Olivier Veran said France does not rule out imposing a third nationwide lockdown if coronavirus cases continue to rise after the Christmas season.

He said it will become clear in the coming months whether the vaccine will not only prevent people from getting sick, but also prevent transmission of the virus.

“This would allow us to get out of this nightmare faster,” he said.

– ‘I did not feel anything’ –

Some EU countries started vaccinating on Saturday, one day before the official start, and a 101-year-old woman in a nursing home became the first person in Germany to be vaccinated and Hungary and Slovakia also administered their first vaccinations.

Araceli Rosario Hidalgo Sánchez, a 96-year-old girl who lives in a nursing home in central Spain, became the first person in the country to be vaccinated this Sunday, in an event broadcast on national television. He said smiling that he felt “nothing” from the shot.

France kicked off its campaign in nursing homes in the Parisian suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis, a low-income area hit hard by Covid-19, with a 78-year-old woman named Mauricette being the first to take the hit to applause from the staff. .

“We have a new weapon against the virus: the vaccine,” President Emmanuel Macron tweeted.

But a poll published in the Journal du Dimanche says 56 percent of French people do not plan to receive the jab.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven described the vaccine as a “ray of light in the dark.” One of the first Swedes to receive the vaccine, 89-year-old Stig Larsson, said he “did not hesitate” to get vaccinated.

– ‘Winning formula’ –

Great Britain, China, Russia, Canada, the United States, Switzerland, Serbia, Singapore and Saudi Arabia have already started their vaccination campaigns.

Vaccines in addition to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are also in the works, and the United States, where more than a million people have already been vaccinated, began last week with the vaccine developed by the American biotechnology firm Moderna.

Meanwhile, the University of Oxford and drug maker AstraZeneca have applied to UK authorities for permission to launch their Covid-19 vaccine, which CEO Pascal Soriot described as a “winning formula.”

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