Von der Leyen: Corona vaccination to start EU-wide on 27 December

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The Austrian government is optimistic that soon the first citizens can be vaccinated with the vaccine against the corona virus. Exactly when the first shipment will arrive, however, is an open question.

Corona vaccination is picking up speed: EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen announced Thursday on the short-message service Twitter that vaccination will begin within the European Union on Dec. 27. “We protect our citizens together,” she wrote. The German government had previously said it expected that the first vaccinations against the corona virus in Austria could possibly take place as early as Dec. 24 – if the European Medicines Agency (EMA) decides positively on Dec. 21 on the approval of the corona vaccine from the companies Biontech and Pfizer.

Pfizer had assured in a video conference with Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) to start delivering the first vaccine doses immediately after the approval, the chancellor’s office said Thursday. That would mean that, optimally, the first shipment could arrive in Austria and all other EU countries as early as Dec. 24.

Delivery date still open
After delivery of the first vaccine doses in the amount of just under 10,000 doses per EU member state, delivery of others will take place in several steps in the last days of December and at the beginning of the year, Kurz said, adding that 900,000 vaccine doses from Biontech/Pfizer are expected to be delivered to Austria during the first quarter of 2021. In addition, vaccine doses are also expected from other manufacturers.

However: the specific delivery date for the first vaccines has not yet been determined, as Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) added on Thursday. Also on the question, who will be vaccinated then as first and in which Land this will happen, the department chief remained an answer owed. In any case, he appealed to be vaccinated, because vaccination could be the “game changer” in the pandemic.

As for funding, Austria has reserved about 80 and 120 million euros in the 2020 and 2021 budgets, he said. “That is sufficient funding,” Anschober said. The EU has also put a lot of money in hand.