Europe rolls out vaccines in bid to leave pandemic behind

[rooster59]

Europe rolls out vaccines in bid to leave pandemic behind

 

FILE PHOTO: Healthcare worker Adrienne Kertesz, receives the first injection nationwide, with a dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Del-Pest Central Hospital as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues, in Budapest, Hungary, December 26, 2020. Szilard Koszticsak/Pool via REUTERS

 

(Reuters) - Europe launches a cross-border vaccination programme of unprecedented scale on Sunday as part of efforts to end a COVID-19 pandemic that has crippled economies and claimed more than 1.7 million lives around the world.

 

The region of 450 million people has secured contracts with a range of suppliers for over two billion vaccine doses and has set a goal for all adults to be inoculated during 2021.

 

While Europe has some of the best-resourced healthcare systems in the world, the sheer scale of the effort means that some countries are calling on retired medics to help out while others have loosened rules for who is allowed to give the injections.

 

With surveys pointing to high levels of hesitancy towards the vaccine in countries from France to Poland, leaders of the 27-country European Union are promoting it as the best chance of getting back to something like normal life next year.

 

"We are starting to turn the page on a difficult year," Ursula von der Leyen, president of the Brussels-based European Commission coordinating the programme, said in a tweet.

 

"Vaccination is the lasting way out of the pandemic."

 

After European governments were criticised for failing to work together to counter the spread of the virus in early 2020, the goal this time is to ensure that there is equal access to the vaccines across the entire region.

 

But even then, Hungary on Saturday jumped the gun on the official roll-out by starting to administer shots of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech to frontline workers at hospitals in the capital Budapest.

 

Countries including France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Portugal and Spain are planning to begin mass vaccinations, starting with health workers on Sunday. Outside the EU, Britain, Switzerland and Serbia have already started in recent weeks.

 

The distribution of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot presents tough challenges. The vaccine uses new mRNA technology and must be stored at ultra-low temperatures of around -80 degrees Celsius (-112°F).

 

France, which received its first shipment of the two-dose vaccine on Saturday, will start administering it in the greater Paris area and in the Burgundy-Franche-Comte region.

 

Germany, meanwhile, said trucks were on their way to deliver the vaccine to care homes for the elderly, which are first in line to receive the vaccine on Sunday.

 

Beyond hospitals and care homes, sports halls and convention centres emptied by lockdown measures will become venues for mass inoculations.

 

In Italy, temporary solar-powered healthcare pavilions will spring up in town squares around the country, designed to look like five-petalled primrose flowers, a symbol of spring.

 

In Spain, doses are being delivered by air to its island territories and the North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. Portugal is establishing separate cold storage units for its Atlantic archipelagos of Azores and Madeira.

 

"A window of hope has now opened, without forgetting that there is a very difficult fight ahead," Portuguese Health Minister Marta Temido told reporters.

 

(Writing by Mark John; Editing by Christina Fincher)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-12-27

 

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[Pattaya Spotter]

I hope they do better than the US...currently 10M doses shipped...1 million doses administered. At this rate, it will take over 6 years to inoculate the entire country. 

[ChouDoufu]

6 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

I hope they do better than the US...currently 10M doses shipped...1 million doses administered. At this rate, it will take over 6 years to inoculate the entire country. 

 

assuming the entire population is willing to be vaccinated.

 

numerous surveys are reporting anywhere from 1/3 to 2/3 of 'merkans would refuse a vaccine if offered.

 

don't expect the usa to get a handle on the pandemic for quite some time.  they'll be resisting the vaccine "for freedom!" for years.

[ourmanflint]

Slowly but surely, Europe and the UK will return to a more normal way of life over the course of 2021. It has been the strangest year, but also quite an important one, things will never be quite the same

[Scott]

7 hours ago, ChouDoufu said:

 

assuming the entire population is willing to be vaccinated.

 

numerous surveys are reporting anywhere from 1/3 to 2/3 of 'merkans would refuse a vaccine if offered.

don't expect the usa to get a handle on the pandemic for quite some time.  they'll be resisting the vaccine "for freedom!" for years.

Most of the latest studies show about 15% will refuse the vaccine.  That % is most likely in flux, but as Covid has affected more and more people some of those that are reluctant may change their minds.   I have a well-respected former neighbor in the US who denied the virus was serious.  He was one of those who said it was no worse than the flu, etc..   He was in his 40's, strong, hard working.  He also died on a ventilator.  His family and neighbors have suddenly all decided a vaccine would be a good idea. 

Antivakers won't change their minds, but there is some encouraging news that others will lean toward getting it.