EU latest to roll out Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine

The European Union joined a growing list of governments to roll out the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine Sunday. The bloc launched a coordinated vaccination program among all 27 member states, providing a sense of hope for a continent that has dealt with numerous surges throughout the pandemic.

Hungary, Germany, and Slovakia actually received their shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine Saturday and quickly began inoculating frontline health care workers and the elderly, but the other countries joined a day later as planned.

Italy, which has Europe's highest coronavirus death toll and was the first EU country to experience a significant COVID-19 outbreak earlier this year, received nearly 10,000 doses which are being administered to health care workers, who urged others to get vaccinated.

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The EU is set to receive 12.5 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot by the end of the year, and its health regulatory agency will consider approving Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine, which is already in use in the United States, on Jan. 6. Read more at Reuters and The Associated Press.