Health

First batch of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine arrives in Spain as EU begins rollout

Madrid, Dec 26  (efe-epa). The first batch of the Pfizer/BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine arrived in Spain on Saturday, a day before the country is set to begin the rollout of the jab.

The first delivery was delivered to a logistics center in Guadalajara, central Spain, from where it will be distributed to the country’s 17 provinces.

Salvador Illa, the health minister, tweeted: “This is the beginning of the end of the pandemic.”

Sources from the security company overseeing the shipment told Efe on Friday that the first truck from the Belgian town of Puurs, where Pfizer is manufacturing the candidate, crossed the Spanish border with a police escort on Friday.

The delivery arrived early in Guadalajara early Saturday after a pit stop at a police station for the night.

The vaccine program is set to start on Sunday, the first two being administered to an older person and a care home worker in Guadalajara.

Batches of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine are being delivered up and down the European Union just five days after the bloc’s medicines agency (EMA) authorized its use.

The first stage of the rollout in the EU is set to take place between 27-29 December.

In Spain, new deliveries of around 350,000 vaccines are set to arrive every Monday, according to the office of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

The storage of the vaccine in Spain is confidential and police will escort deliveries around the country.

Related Articles

Back to top button