PARIS – France’s first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine were delivered early today to the Paris hospital system’s central pharmacy outside the capital.
After more than 62,000 Covid-19 deaths in the country, shots are set to begin with people in two elderly care homes tomorrow, the same day the rest of the European Union begins injections.
A refrigerated truck brought the roughly 19,500 doses from the Pfizer factory in Puurs, northeast Belgium, to Paris, said the capital’s APHP hospital authority, with pharmacy chief Franck Huet calling it a “historic” moment in the pandemic.
After repackaging in Paris, the vaccines will be delivered to a long-term care unit at a hospital in Sevran, outside the capital, and an old-age care home in Dijon, in eastern France.
The first EU deliveries come after the European Medicines Agency gave the Pfizer-BioNTech shot its green light on Monday, and France’s HAS health authority in turn on Thursday.
Countries are especially eager to begin their vaccination campaigns as a new strain believed to be more infectious spreads from Britain. A first case was identified in France yesterday.
However, large-scale inoculations for residents and staff in the country’s 7,000 elderly care homes will not begin until early next year. – AFP, December 26, 2020
