Doctors, nurses and the elderly have rolled up their sleeves across the European Union to receive the first doses of coronavirus vaccine on Sunday in a symbolic demonstration of unity and moment of hope for a continent facing the worst health crisis its of the last century.
Even though several countries gave doses a day earlier, the coordinated launch of the 27-nation bloc aimed to project a unified message that the vaccine is safe and Europe’s best chance of overcoming the pandemic and economic devastation. caused by months of quarantine.
For health workers who fought the virus only with masks and shields to protect themselves, vaccines were an emotional relief, as well as a public chance to urge 450 million people in Europe to receive shots for their own health and to others.
“Today I am here as a citizen, but especially as a nurse, to represent my category and all health care workers who choose to believe in science,” said Claudia Alivernini, 29, the first person to be inoculated into Spallanzani. hospital for infectious diseases in Rome.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called the vaccine, which was developed in record time, a “game changer”.
“We know that today is not the end of the pandemic, but the beginning of victory,” he said.
Tsar of Italian virus Domenico Arcuri said it was significant that Italy’s first doses were given in Spallanzani, where a Chinese couple visiting Wuhan tested positive in January and became Italy’s first confirmed case.
Within weeks, northern Lombardy became the epicenter of the outbreak in Europe and a warning story about what happens when even rich regions find themselves unprepared for a pandemic. Lombardy still accounts for about a third of deaths in Italy, which has the worst confirmed number of virus deaths on the continent, at almost 72,000.
“Today is a beautiful, symbolic day: all the citizens of Europe together are starting to get vaccinated, the first ray of light after a long night,” Arcuri told reporters.
But he warned: “We all need to be careful, prudent and responsible. We still have a long way to go, but in the end we see a little light.”
The vaccine developed by the German company BioNTech and the American doctor Pfizer started arriving on Friday in super-cold containers at the EU hospitals from a factory in Belgium. Each country received only a fraction of the required doses – less than 10,000 in the first batches – with the expected higher release in January, when more vaccines will be available. Everyone who receives photos on Sunday must return for the second dose in three weeks.
Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Union’s Executive Committee, said that with additional vaccines under development, the EU would have more shots than needed and could share its surplus with the Western Balkans and Africa.
“Europe is well positioned,” she said.
In the Los Olmos nursing home in the Spanish city of Guadalajara, northeast of Madrid, Araceli Hidalgo, 96, and a caregiver were the first Spaniards to receive the vaccine.
“Let’s see if we can all behave and make this virus go away,” Hidalgo said.
Casa Los Olmos suffered two confirmed deaths from Covid-19 and another 11 deaths among residents with symptoms that were never tested.
The Czech Republic has been spared the worst pandemic in the spring just to see its health system near collapse in the fall. In Prague, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis was shot dead at dawn on Sunday and said: “There is nothing to worry about.” Next to him was World War II veteran Emilie Repikova, who also received a blow.
In total, the 27 EU nations have recorded at least 16 million coronavirus infections and more than 336,000 deaths – a huge number that experts say they underestimate the true number of the pandemic due to missed cases and limited tests.
The vaccination campaign should alleviate the frustrations that are accumulating, especially in Germany, as the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States began inoculation programs with the same vaccine weeks earlier.
As it turned out, some EU vaccinations started a day earlier in Germany, Hungary and Slovakia. The operator of a German nursing home where dozens were vaccinated on Saturday, including a 101-year-old woman, said “every day we wait is one day too many.”
In France, where many question the safety of vaccines, the French government has been cautious in its messages and eager to ensure that it is not seen as forcing public vaccination. France’s first vaccination in a nursing home in a poor area outside Paris on Sunday was not broadcast on live television, as it was elsewhere in Europe and did not involve government ministers.
“We didn’t have to convince her. She said, ‘Yes, I’m ready for anything to avoid getting this disease,'” said Dr. Samir Tine, head of geriatric services at the Sevran Nursing Home. blow of France. Mauricette, 78 years old.
“It’s an important day,” Tine said. “We are very eager to have a new weapon at our disposal and we are eager to rediscover our normal life.”
Bulgarian Health Minister Kostadin Angelov was among the politicians who were shot dead on Sunday to promote wider acceptance of vaccinations. “I can’t wait to see my 70-year-old father without fear that I might infect him,” Angelov said.
After being shot, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis declared Sunday “a wonderful day for science and the European Union.”
“We hope that, in time, even those of our fellow citizens suspected of vaccination will be convinced that it is right to do so,” he said.
Meanwhile, a new variant of the virus that has spread rapidly around London and southern England has now been detected in France, Italy, Spain, Canada and Japan. The new variant, which the British authorities said is much easier to pass on, has led many countries to restrict travel to the UK.
Japan has announced that it will temporarily ban access to all non-resident aliens until 31 January as a precautionary measure against the new UK variant.
BioNTech in Germany said it was confident its vaccine was working against the new British variant, but added that further studies were needed.
The European Medicines Agency will consider approving another vaccine produced by Moderna on January 6, which is already in use in the United States.
Dr. Annalisa Malara, who diagnosed Italy’s first internal case on February 20, confirmed that Europe’s outbreak is underway, was on hand at her hospital in Codogno to encourage all Italians to be shot.
“Today we are closing the circle that opened on February 20,” she said.