[ad_1]
Europe has launched a vaccination program that it hopes will end the coronavirus pandemic and allow a return to normal life.
The European Medicines Agency approved the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine on December 21 and the goal is for all adults to be vaccinated by the end of 2021.
Some countries have asked doctors and nurses to return from retirement to help in vaccination efforts, while some have trained people from other occupations to help.
European governments are promoting the vaccine as the continent’s best chance to return to normal life, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “Vaccination is the lasting way out of the pandemic.”
German Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Saturday. “This vaccine is the decisive key to ending this pandemic … the key to reclaiming our lives.”
EU nations have recorded at least 16 million coronavirus infections and more than 336,000 deaths, although the actual numbers are likely higher due to limited testing, particularly early in the pandemic.
The 27-nation bloc had planned a coordinated deployment on Sunday, but Hungary, Germany and Slovakia couldn’t wait and instead began vaccinating people on Saturday.
Subscribe to the daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker
In Hungary, vaccinations started with front-line healthcare workers in Budapest hospitals.
In Germany, officials focused on nursing home residents.
Tobias Krueger, operator of a nursing home in the Saxony-Anhalt region of northeastern Germany, said: “Every day we wait is one day too many.”
The first person to be vaccinated in that home was Edith Kwoizalla, 101, and Krueger said 40 of the 59 residents of the home and 10 of the 40 workers wanted the vaccine.
The first person to receive the vaccine in Slovakia was an expert on infectious diseases, Vladimir Krcmery.
The 60-year-old man was vaccinated together with doctors at a hospital in the city of Nitra, described by the Minister of Health, Marek Krajci, as a “historic moment.”
France received its first shipment of the vaccine on Saturday and said it would prioritize the elderly.
In Italy, temporary solar-powered health pavilions will be built in squares and in Spain the first doses will be administered in a residence in the center of the city of Guadalajara.
In Poland, the first two people to be vaccinated on Sunday will be a nurse and a doctor at the Interior Ministry hospital in Warsaw, followed by medical workers from other hospitals.
The country’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said getting vaccinated was a patriotic duty.
In Bulgaria, the first person to receive the vaccine will be the Minister of Health, Kostadin Angelov, who has promised a campaign to promote the benefits of the vaccine. Both Bulgaria and Poland have a high level of suspicion around vaccines.
In Croatia, the first beneficiary will be a resident of a nursing home in the capital city of Zagreb on Sunday morning and Portugal will create separate cold storage units to bring the vaccine to the Azores and Madeira archipelagos.
