Italy will begin inoculating frontline health workers and the elderly against the COVID-19 Coronavirus on 27 December, foreign minister Luigi Di Maio said on Thursday.
''The 27th of December is when vaccinations are starting in Europe. We will begin with health workers and our dear elderly," Di Maio told public broadcaster Rai' Tg1 news bulletin.
'We are on the final stretch," Di Maio said. Tough restrictions expected to be put in place over the festive season will mean "a Christmas of sacrifice" this year, he added.
The vaccine rollout is conditional on the European Medicine's Agency approving the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine and is part of the European Union's coordinated vaccination plan aimed at ensuring fair access across the bloc.
The EMA will meet to make a decision on the vaccine on December 21 and is expected to approve it.
A proposal from Italy's Coronavirus emergency commissioner Domenico Arcuri's to start a programme of mass vaccinations in early January was approved on Wednesday at a meeting of the government and Italy's regional chiefs.
The European Commission, the EU executive, has already signed contracts with several other suppliers of potential Coronavirus vaccines in a bid to secure enough doses for all adult EU citizens.
