波兰华沙——第一批冠状病毒疫苗已经抵达整个欧盟,当局准备在周日的协调努力中向最脆弱的人群注射第一针。
这疫苗由生物技术公司和辉瑞公司开发的这种药物在圣诞节前从比利时的一个制造中心运出后,于周五和周六早些时候由卡车运抵欧洲大陆各地的仓库。
这次展示标志着一个地区的希望时刻,这个地区包括世界上一些最早和最严重的病毒热点,包括意大利和西班牙,以及其他国家,如捷克共和国,这些国家在早期没有出现最严重的病毒,只是看到了它们的健康护理系统在秋季即将崩溃。
欧盟27个成员国总共出现了至少1600万例冠状病毒病例和超过33.6万例死亡。
德国卫生部长延斯·斯派恩在周六的新闻发布会上说:“这是圣诞节的好消息。”。“此时此刻,卡车正在穿越欧洲,穿越德国和它所在的地区,来生产第一种疫苗。后天会有更多的送货。这种疫苗是结束这场流行病的决定性关键。"
“这是恢复我们生活的关键,”斯班说。
此次推出是所有27个成员国协调的结果,有助于欧盟在与英国谈判后英国退出欧盟贸易协议遇到困难后,在一项具有后勤复杂性的拯救生命的任务中,也投射出一种团结感。
然而,在大多数国家,第一剂疫苗的剂量限制在10,000剂以下,预计大规模疫苗接种计划将于明年1月开始。
每个国家都在自己决定谁将获得第一枪——但他们都把最脆弱的放在第一位。
法国当局表示,他们将优先考虑老年人,因为此前法国的病毒激增对老年人造成了很大影响。法国医疗安全机构将监控最终的问题。
在德国,这种流行病已经夺去了3万多人的生命,将从80岁以上的人和照顾弱势群体的人开始。
西班牙当局周六早些时候表示,第一批到达该国的冠状病毒疫苗已抵达中部城市瓜达拉哈拉——周日上午,第一批疫苗将在一家养老院注射。
意大利首都的主要传染病机构斯帕兰扎尼医院的一名护士应该是意大利第一个接种疫苗的人,其次是其他人健康人事。
在波兰,周日第一批接种疫苗的两个人将是首都主要冠状病毒医院华沙内政部医院的一名护士和一名医生,随后是其他几十家医院的医务人员。
总理马特奥兹·莫拉维克最近称接种疫苗是波兰人的爱国义务——这一信息针对的是一个对疫苗高度犹豫的社会,这种犹豫源于对当局的普遍不信任。
在保加利亚,人们的疑虑也很高,第一个注射的人将是卫生部长科斯塔丁·安杰洛夫,他承诺将发起一场积极的运动来宣传注射的好处。
据国家HRT电视台报道,在克罗地亚,第一批9750种疫苗于周六早些时候抵达,首都萨格勒布的一家养老院将于周日上午第一个收到疫苗。
HRT电视台还报道称,当局将发起一场支持疫苗接种的运动,包括名人和其他公众人物在镜头前接种疫苗。
“我们已经等了一年了,”罗马尼亚总理弗罗林·卡图周六在第一批疫苗到达那里的一个军事储存设施后说。
COVID-19 vaccine shipments arrive across EU before rollout
WARSAW, Poland -- The first shipments of coronavirus vaccines have arrived across the European Union as authorities prepared to administer the first shots to the most vulnerable people in a coordinated effort on Sunday.
The vaccines developed by BioNTech and Pfizer arrived by truck in warehouses across the continent on Friday and early Saturday after being sent from a manufacturing center in Belgium before Christmas.
The rollout marks a moment of hope for a region that includes some of the world's earliest and worst-hit virus hot spots, including Italy and Spain, and others, like the Czech Republic, that were spared the worst early on only to see their health care systems near their breaking points in the fall.
Altogether, the 27 EU member states have seen at least 16 million cases of the coronavirus and more than 336,000 deaths.
“It’s here, the good news at Christmas," German Health Minister Jens Spahn said at a news conference Saturday. "At this moment, trucks are underway across Europe, across Germany and its regions, to deliver the first vaccine. More deliveries will follow the day after tomorrow. This vaccine is the decisive key to end this pandemic.”
“It is the key to getting our lives back,” Spahn said.
The rollout is the result of coordination on the part of all 27 member states, helping the bloc to also project a sense of unity in a lifesaving mission of logistical complexity after difficulties in negotiating a post-Brexit trade deal with Britain.
The first doses, however, are limited just under 10,000 doses in most countries, with the mass vaccination programs expected to begin only in January.
Each country is deciding on its own who will get the first shots — but they are all putting the most vulnerable first.
French authorities said they will prioritize the elderly, based on the high impact on older populations in previous virus surges in France. The French medical safety agency will monitor for eventual problems.
Germany, where the pandemic has cost more than 30,000 lives, will begin with those over 80 and people who take care of vulnerable groups.
Spanish authorities said early Saturday that the first batch of the coronavirus vaccine to reach the country had arrived in the central city of Guadalajara — where the first shots will be administered on Sunday morning at a nursing home.
A nurse in Rome at Spallanzani Hospital, the main infectious diseases facility in Italy's capital, should be the first in the country to receive the vaccine, followed by other health personnel.
In Poland, the first two people to be vaccinated on Sunday will be a nurse and a doctor at the Interior Ministry hospital in Warsaw, the main coronavirus hospital in the capital, followed by medical personnel in dozens of other hospitals.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki recently called it the patriotic duty of Poles to get vaccinated — a message directed at a society where there is a high degree of vaccine hesitancy born from a general distrust of authorities.
In Bulgaria, where suspicions also run high, the first person to get the shot will be Health Minister Kostadin Angelov, who has promised an aggressive campaign to promote the benefits of the shots.
In Croatia, where the first batch of 9,750 vaccines arrived early on Saturday, a care home resident in Zagreb, the capital, will be the first to receive the vaccine on Sunday morning, according to state HRT TV.
HRT TV also reported that authorities would launch a pro-vaccination campaign that will include celebrities and other public figures getting the vaccine on camera.
“We have been waiting for this for a year now,” Romanian Prime Minister Florin Catu said on Saturday after the first batch of the vaccine arrived at a military-run storage facility there.