The EU has officially launched its programme of mass vaccination against Covid-19, with the goal of making shots available to all its adult population by the end of 2021.
Meanwhile cases of the new coronavirus variant first detected in the UK were confirmed in at least eight European countries, piling further pressure on the vaccine campaign to help get the pandemic under control.
In Italy, the first doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine were given shortly before 7am on Sunday to a researcher, a nurse and a social health worker at Rome’s Spallanzani infectious diseases hospital.
“It is with deep pride and a deep sense of responsibility that I got the vaccine today. A small gesture but a fundamental gesture for all of us,” said a 29-year-old nurse, Claudia Alivernini, the first to receive the vaccination on Sunday morning. “It is the beginning of the end and I hope to be the first of over 60 millions of Italians … it was an exciting, historical moment.”
The first shipment of 9,750 coronavirus vaccines arrived in Italy, the EU country worst hit by the pandemic with 71,000 dead, on 25 December from Puurs in Belgium.
“Italy is waking up today,” said the prime minister, Giuseppe Conte. “This day will remain in our memory for ever.”
On Thursday, the total number of coronavirus cases recorded in Italy passed the 2m mark.
A 96-year-old living in a care home became the first person in Spain to receive the Covid-19 vaccination.
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