Doctors, nurses and the elderly stretched their sleeves for the European Union to receive the first doses of the coronavirus vaccine on Sunday in a symbolic show of unity and moment of hope for a continent facing its worst health crisis in a century.
Although a few countries gave doses a day earlier, the coordinated deployment for the 27-nation bloc aimed to project a unified message that the vaccine was safe and the best opportunity for Europe to emerge from the pandemic and devastation. economic caused by months of confinement.
For health workers who have been battling the virus only with masks and shields to protect themselves, vaccines represented emotional relief, as well as a public opportunity to urge the 450 million Europeans to receive shots for their own health and that of others.
“Today I am here as a citizen, but mostly as a nurse, to represent my category and all health workers who choose to believe in science,” said Claudia Alivernini, 29, the first person to be inoculated at the Spallanzani Infectious Diseases Hospital in Rome.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called the vaccine, which was developed in record time, a “game changer.”
“We know today is not the end of the pandemic, but it is the beginning of victory,” he said.
Italian virus tsar Domenico Arcuri said it was significant that the first doses from Italy were administered in Spallanzani, where a Chinese couple visiting Wuhan tested positive in January and became the first confirmed cases in Italy.
Within a few weeks, northern Lombardy became the epicenter of the outbreak in Europe and a precautionary tale of 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 virus balance on the continent at nearly 72,000.
“Today is a beautiful symbolic day: all European citizens together begin to get vaccinated, the first ray of light after a long night,” Arcuri told reporters.
But he warned: “We all need to remain prudent, prudent and responsible. We still have a long way to go, but we finally see some light.”
The vaccine developed by Germany’s BioNTech and US pharmacist Pfizer began arriving in super-cold packaging on Friday at 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 a larger deployment scheduled for January, when more vaccines are available. Anyone receiving shots on Sunday should take a second dose again in three weeks.
Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission’s Executive Committee, said that with additional vaccines under development, the EU will have more features than necessary and could share its surplus with the Western Balkans and Africa.
“Europe is well positioned,” he said.
At the Los Olmos nursing home in the Spanish city of Guadalajara, northeast of Madrid, 96-year-old resident Araceli Hidalgo 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.
The Los Olmos home suffered two confirmed deaths from Covid-19 and another 11 deaths among residents with symptoms that were never tested.
The Czech Republic saved itself the worst of the pandemic in the spring only to see its health system nearly collapse in the fall. In Prague, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis was shot dead on Sunday morning and said: “There is nothing to worry about.” Next to her was World War II veteran Emilie Repikova, who also received a shot.
In total, the 27 EU nations have recorded at least 16 million coronavirus infections and more than 336,000 deaths, a large number that experts say still underestimates the true number of pandemics due to lost cases and limited evidence.
The vaccination campaign should alleviate the frustrations that were accumulating, especially in Germany, as Britain, Canada and the United States began their 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 messaging and has wanted to make sure it is not considered to force vaccinations on the public. France’s first vaccination at a nursing home in a poor area outside of Paris on Sunday was not broadcast on live television, as it was done elsewhere in Europe and no minister attended.
“There was no need to convince her. She said, ‘Yes, I am prepared for anything to prevent this disease,'” said Dr. Samir Tine, head of geriatric services at the Sevran Geriatric Residence where the first shot was fired. of France Mauricette, 78 years.
“It’s an important day,” Tine said. “We look forward to having a new weapon at our disposal and look forward to rediscovering our normal lives.”
Among the politicians who were fired on Sunday to promote wider acceptance of the vaccines was Bulgarian Health Minister Kostadin Angelov. “I can’t wait to see my 70-year-old father without fear that he might infect him,” Angelov said.
After receiving the shot, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis declared Sunday “a great day for science and the European Union.”
“We hope that, over time, even those of our fellow citizens who suspect vaccination will be convinced that is the right thing to do,” he said.
Meanwhile, a new variant of the virus has now been detected that has spread rapidly through London and the south of England to France, Italy, Spain, Canada and Japan. The new variant, which the British authorities said is much easier to transmit, has caused many countries to restrict travel from Britain.
Japan announced that it would temporarily ban entry to all non-resident foreigners until 31 January as a precaution against the new UK variant.
BioNTech of Germany has said it is confident its vaccine will work against the new UK variant, but added that further studies are needed.
On January 6, the European Medicines Agency will consider approving another vaccine made by Moderna, which is already in use in the United States.
Dr. Annalisa Malara, who diagnosed Italy’s first national case on February 20 that confirmed that the outbreak of Europe was beginning, was at her Codogno hospital to encourage all Italians to receive the shot.
“Today we close a little bit the circle that opened on February 20,” he said.