Europe begins vaccine rollout as new virus strain spreads fears

A swath of EU nations begin vaccinating their most vulnerable groups on Dec. 27 as a reputedly more contagious coronavirus variant spread internationally and the WHO warned that the current pandemic would not be the last.

First doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in EU countries including hard-hit Italy, Spain and France on Dec. 26, ready for distribution to retirement homes and care staff.

The approval and roll-out of vaccines has boosted hopes that 2021 could bring a respite from the pandemic, which has killed more than 1.7 million people since emerging in China late last year.

However, in a video message ahead of the first International Day of Epidemic Preparedness on Dec. 27, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was time to learn the lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"History tells us that this will not be the last pandemic, and epidemics are a fact of life," said Tedros.

"Any efforts to improve human health are doomed unless they address the critical interface between humans and animals, and the existential threat of climate change that's making our earth less habitable," he added.

Vaccinations in all 27 European Union countries had been set to begin from Dec. 27, after regulators approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on December 21.

But some countries began on Dec. 26: a 101-year-old woman in a care home became the first person in Germany to be inoculated, and the first jabs were also handed out in Hungary and Slovakia.

The three EU countries joined China, Russia and Britain, Canada, the United States, Switzerland, Serbia, Singapore and Saudi Arabia, which have also begun their vaccination campaigns.

"We'll get our freedom back, we'll be able to embrace...

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