The European Union began on Sunday a coordinated launch of vaccinations against coronavirus in its 27 member states in a campaign to inoculate about 450 million people.
Why it matters: Several European countries have tightened restrictions as cases, deaths and hospitalizations increase. EU countries have recorded at least 16 million cases of COVID-19 and 336,000 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, by AP.
The big picture: Vaccine shipments from Pfizer-BioNTech arrived in EU countries on Saturday. Most countries received just under 10,000 doses in their first shipments, according to the AP.
- Germany, Hungary and Slovakia gave their first coronavirus vaccines on Saturday, one before the coordinated launch, notes the AP.
- Germany fired the first shots at a small number of people in a retirement home on Saturday, according to Reuters.
- Hungary administered its first doses of vaccine to frontline health workers in Budapest.
- Slovakia also gave some of the first vaccines to healthcare professionals, according to the AP.
What are they saying: “Today, we started to turn the page in a difficult year. The COVID-19 vaccine has been distributed in all EU countries. Vaccination will begin tomorrow across the EU, “said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a video she tweeted Saturday.
- “The #EU vaccination days are a touching moment of unity. Vaccination is the long-term way out of the pandemic, ”he added.
- German Health Minister Jens Spahn said at a news conference on Saturday that “vaccine is the decisive key to ending this pandemic … it is the key to recovering our lives,” according to the AP.
Go deeper … The 2021 challenge: Vaccinating the world
Editor’s note: this article has been updated with news of the coordinated release.