MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Following EU approval of Pfizer vaccine, Germany will begin immunization of the elderly on December 27

Health Minister Jens Spahn welcomed the approval of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech by the European Medicines Agency as a milestone

Germany will begin its first coronavirus vaccinations in care homes for the elderly on Dec. 27, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Monday. He welcomed the approval of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech by the European Medicines Agency as a milestone in the fight against the pandemic.

“Vaccination is paving the way for us out of the crisis. And we're doing everything we can to take this path as quickly as possible,” Spahn said.

The federal government is planning to distribute more than 1.3 million vaccine doses to local health authorities in Germany's 16 federal states by the end of this year, Spahn said.

“In January, at least another 670,000 vaccine doses will be distributed each week,” he said. This means about 4 million vaccine shots should be possible in Germany in the five weeks from Dec. 27 until Jan. 31.

The European Commission gave approval on Monday for the use of the COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by U.S. company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, the final step to allowing Europe to start inoculations within a week.

European Union countries including Germany, Austria and Italy have said they plan to start vaccinations from Dec. 27 as Europe tries to catch up with the United States and Britain where the roll-out began earlier this month.