The European Union's campaign to vaccinate Europeans against COVID-19 has marked an uneven start in what will be a marathon effort to administer enough doses to all of the bloc's 450 million inhabitants in a bid to beat the viral pandemic. .
In the first trial, eight workers at a care home in Stralsund on the north German coast were injected with a dose five times higher than the recommended one with the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. Four of them have been hospitalized.
"I feel deep regret for the incident. This individual case is the result of individual mistakes. I hope that all those affected will not experience more serious side effects", said the head of the district, Stefan Kerth.
In southern Germany, officials had to return 1.000 doses after they discovered they had been transported through refrigerated containers commonly used for picnics or camping, which failed to keep the vaccines at low enough temperatures.
Vaccination in the EU began over the weekend, with health workers and residents of care centers around the block being among the first to receive Pfizer's vaccines, which must be stored at ultra-low temperatures.
also
The EU reiterates that it will provide vaccines for the Balkans, but does not mention deadlines
Complications
Meanwhile, in Italy, some politicians have complained that Germany - the largest member of the EU and the headquarters of "BioNTech" may be providing an unequal share of vaccines.
The European Union is expected to receive its 12.5 million doses of Pfizer's vaccine by New Year's Day, in which case the distribution of 200 million doses around its 27 member states will be completed by next September. . For the intended effect, vaccination should be done with two doses.
A Pfizer spokesperson declined to comment on specific deadlines or whether the timeframe hinted at by the European Commission coincides with the postponement.
"Our timelines are aspirational and may change based on capacity and production timeframes," he said.
Talks are currently underway regarding the agreement to ship 100 million additional optional doses, under the contracts being discussed with the two companies, the EU announced.
The icy dilemma
The initial anomalies reveal the real challenge of vaccination, while regulators are considering the approval of other vaccines, including those from "Moderna" and "AstraZeneca", which are easier to transport and store.
The process of sending the doses of "Pfizer" to the United States of America has been slow, questioning the Government's goal of administering 20 million vaccinations this week alone.
Despite being the first vaccine against COVID-19 to be distributed around the EU, Pfizer's doses are quite complicated to manage. For long-term storage, they should be kept at freezing temperatures of about minus 70 degrees Celsius. They can be thawed for several days before use, but even then they should be kept cold - at temperatures between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius.
also
Vaccination against COVID-19 is postponed in some German cities
In southern Germany, officials have said they will not use the same doses after temperature trackers in the coolers showed they may not have been kept cold enough.
"There are doubts as to whether the proper cold has been ensured all the time," said Christian Meissner, administrator of the Bavarian town of Lichtenfels. "'BioNTech' announced that the vaccines were probably ok, but 'maybe ok' is not enough", he added.
The release occurred after the doses had been handed over to local authorities. "BioNTech" has refused to comment.
In Spain, the delivery of a new package from Pfizer was delayed for a day on Tuesday, as a result of problems with the temperature that have now been resolved, said the Minister of Health, Salvador Illa.
However, Maria Asuncion Ojeda, a resident at Madrid's Ballesol Parque Almansa nursing center, was pleased to be one of the early recipients of the vaccine.
"I wanted to do it, because this is the only way we can solve this problem," the 87-year-old said on Monday, a day after Spain began vaccinating residents and staff of care centers.
The (un)equal parts
The EU is distributing vaccines proportionally among the 27 member countries. Meanwhile, the populations of each country are taken into account, as some European countries have also made separate deals to buy extra doses, separately.
In Italy some politicians have said that Germany seems to be providing much more than its fair share, at least in the first symbolic phase.
also
EU to reach world's biggest vaccine deal with Pfizer
"The calculations are not coming out right," Italian virologist Roberto Burioni said in a Twitter post, alluding to reports from Germany that the first day's shipments totaled more than 150.000 doses while other EU countries they only got 10.000 sosh.
An official well-informed about the distribution of vaccines in Germany said that each of Germany's 16 federal states had received 10.000 doses of Pfizer's vaccine on the eve of the start of last weekend.
An Italian journalist asked about the supplies during a press conference of the German Government. An official of the German Ministry of Health has responded that Berlin has signed a special agreement for 30 million additional doses of the "Pfizer" vaccine. \ Reuters
