Cheers
Reuters team
ROME (Reuters) – Almost 10 months after the first Italian patient tested positive for the new coronavirus, Italy vaccinated the first residents on Sunday against COVID-19.
Three health professionals at Rome Spallanzani hospital were inoculated shortly before 07:00 GMT with the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, said a statement from the commissioner for the epidemic, Domenico Arcuri.
“The vaccine was very good and it was a historic and exciting moment,” said nurse Claudia Alivernini, 29, on state television RAINEWS24.
“It is the beginning of the end and I hope to be the first of more than 60 million Italians”.
On Thursday, Italy became the eighth country in the world to exceed 2 million officially registered cases. It recorded 70,909 deaths, the highest number of deaths in Europe and the fifth largest in the world.
The vaccine will be free and health professionals and the elderly will be the first to receive the voluntary vaccine.
Hungary and Slovakia began their vaccination campaigns on Saturday, with other European Union countries joining Italy to launch vaccines starting on Sunday, with the pandemic rising across the continent.
About 9,750 doses have already arrived in Italy and another 470,000 are expected to arrive next week, the health ministry said.
“Today is a symbolic day that should give an idea of the beauty of Europe, which bought vaccines for everyone and distributed them,” said Commissioner Arcuri.
To help roll out the vaccine, temporary solar-powered health pavilions will appear in squares across the country, designed to look like five-petal evening primrose flowers, a symbol of spring.
(The story corrects the spelling of the nurse’s last name in the third paragraph.)