Key Points
- EU leaders hailed the beginning of the vaccinations
- There are concerns from hospitals in Germany that Pfizer's vaccine freezers might be experiencing problems
- Polls show that Europeans are hesitant to do the vaccine.
The vaccinations were sceduled to start on the 27th of December, but some countries, such as Germany, started on the 26th.
The beginning of the vaccination campaign has sparked enthusiasm among the many leaders of the member states as well as the European Commission. The Commission's president, Ursula Von der Leyen hailed the start of the process.
The European countries are following different approaches, with France focusing on the elderly, Italy giving priority to health workers while political leaders are among the first in the que for the vaccine in Greece, Slovakia and Czech Republic.
However German hospitals in several cities have expressed concerns about potential issues with the freezers used to keep Pfizer's vaccines. This might cause delays in the country's vaccination program as the vaccine needs to be kept to extremely low temperatures.
Berlin: Gertrud Haase (C), 101-year-old, receives a shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Agaplesion Bethanien Sophienhaus nursing home. Source: AAP
In addition polls show that many Europeans maintain reservations about doing the vaccine. For example, a poll published in the Journal du Dimanche said that 56 per cent of French people do not plan to get vaccinated.
