MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Europe launched a mass Covid-19 inoculation drive on Sunday; 6,25 million should be vaccinated by end of the year

The region of 450 million people is trying to catch up with the United States and Britain, which have already started vaccinations using the Pfizer shot.

Europe launched a mass Covid-19 vaccination drive on Sunday with pensioners and medics lining up to get the first shots to see off a pandemic that has crippled economies and claimed more than 1.7 million lives worldwide.

The region of 450 million people is trying to catch up with the United States and Britain, which have already started vaccinations using the Pfizer shot.

The European Union is due to receive 12.5 million doses by the end of the year, enough to vaccinate 6.25 million people based on the two-dose regimen. The companies are scrambling to meet global demand and aim to make 1.3 billion shots next year.

The bloc has secured contracts with a range of drugmakers besides Pfizer, including Moderna and AstraZeneca , for a total of more than two billion vaccine doses and has set a goal for all adults to be inoculated during 2021.

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 have a new weapon against the virus: the vaccine. We must stand firm, once more,” tweeted French President Emmanuel Macron, who tested positive for the coronavirus this month and left quarantine on Christmas Eve.

Distribution of the shot presents tough challenges as the vaccine uses new mRNA technology and must be stored at about minus 70 deg C. In Germany the campaign faced delays in several cities after a temperature tracker showed that about 1,000 shots may not have been kept cold enough during transit.

BioNtech said it was responsible for the shipment to the 25 German distribution centres and that the federal states and local authorities were responsible for the shipment to the vaccination centers and the mobile vaccination teams.

The Pfizer shots being used in Europe were shipped from its factory in Puurs, Belgium, in specially designed containers filled with dry ice. They can be stored for up to six months at Antarctic winter temperatures, or for five days at 2 deg C to 8 deg C, a type of refrigeration commonly available at hospitals.