Germany administers its first COVID-19 vaccine, a day ahead of EU nations

Germany broke the ranks and started its COVID-19 inoculation
programme a day ahead of the rest of the EU members on Saturday to stem the
surge in cases in the country, AFP has reported.

European drugs regulator, the European Medicines Agency, had
approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on December 21 and had decided on December
27 as the date to begin the Euro-wide vaccination programme.

But Germany began its programme a day ahead when it gave the
vaccine jab to Edith Kwoizalla, a 101 years old woman, who was among the 40
interns and 10 staff who were administered the vaccine at a care home in eastern
state of Saxony-Anhalt.

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“For us, every day counts,” said Immo Kramer, a
vaccination centre official for the region, told MDR public television, AFP
reported.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn called it a “day of
hope”.

“The vaccine is an essential key in conquering the
pandemic,” he told a news conference.

“It is the key that will allow us to take back our
lives,” but he warned that getting everyone immunised would be a
“long-haul” effort.

Germany, which appeared to fare relatively well in the first
wave of coronavirus in the spring, has been hit hard by a second wave.

Also read: How Germany squandered early COVID-19 success

According to the latest data compiled by the Robert Koch
Institute, a total 14,455 new infections have been reported in the past 24
hours, and 240 new deaths, bringing the total number of fatalities so far to
29,422, AFP wrote.