COVID-19 vaccine launched in Europe

The European Union has begun to administer the COVID-19 vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer to its 446 million citizens. The vaccine was intended to be officially rolled out on Sunday December 27 but on Saturday December 26 Germany, Hungary and Slovakia began giving out their first coronavirus vaccine shots in advance of the European Union’s campaign for a coordinated rollout Sunday across the union's 27 nations. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Saturday that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had been delivered to all 27 member states. "Today, we start turning the page on a difficult year. The #COVID19 vaccine has been delivered to all EU countries. Vaccination will begin tomorrow across the EU," Ms von der Leyen said in a tweet. "The #EUvaccinationdays are a touching moment of unity. Vaccination is the lasting way out of the pandemic," said Ms von der Leyen. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has stated that in the initial phases of the vaccine deployment, it is expected that demand will exceed supply. "It will be important to manage expectations through appropriate communication regarding the choices of vaccine strategies. It will also be important to consider groups or settings that may have a disproportionate risk of exposure," said an ECDC spokesperson. "Given the many unknowns in relation to COVID-19 vaccines’ characteristics, deployment, supply, and uptake, non-pharmaceutical interventions should continue to be applied, as recommended by public health authorities, following the introduction of COVID-19 vaccination. Vaccination strategies will need to be adaptable over time to unfolding events taking into account the emerging evidence. ECDC will continue to monitor factors like COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness, confidence, uptake, supply, deployment, and future emerging variants that could have an impact on the response to COVID-19 vaccines," said the spokesperson. https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/news-events/ecdc-releases-vaccination-rollout-strategies-eueea