ROME (AP) — Doctors, nurses and the elderly are rolling up their sleeves across the European Union to receive the first doses of the coronavirus vaccine.
Even after a few countries started administering the doses a day early, the coordinated rollout on Sunday was aimed at projecting a unified message that the vaccine is safe and it's Europe's best chance to emerge from the pandemic and the economic devastation of lockdowns.
For health care workers who have been battling the virus with only masks and shields to protect them, the vaccines represented an emotional relief as well as a very public chance to urge others to follow suit.
Europe has seen over 336,000 deaths in the pandemic and is still being hard hit by the latest surge of infections and deaths.
