Illustration of an anti-Covid-19 vaccine.

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ALLILI MOURAD

The vaccination campaign against Covid-19 started Wednesday in Switzerland.

A woman over 90, in the canton of Lucerne, was the first patient, just four days after the authorization of the product by the authorities.

The resident of a medical facility for the elderly received the vaccine from the American-German alliance Pfizer-BioNTech, cantonal authorities said in a statement.

More than 4,000 new daily contaminations

The campaign opens as Switzerland records more than 4,000 new infections and more than 100 deaths every day.

In total, this country has recorded more than 415,000 cases and more than 6,300 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

This is the first vaccination campaign against the coronavirus launched on the European continent, the United Kingdom having launched its own on December 8, the first in a Western country.

An order of 15.8 million doses

While Switzerland had initially announced that it expected to vaccinate its first patients in January, the authorities have accelerated the pace by authorizing the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine from December 19, and by launching the vaccination campaign less a week later.

The country, which has 8.6 million inhabitants, has secured access to 15.8 million doses, negotiated with three laboratories: three million with Pfizer-BioNTech, 7.5 million with Moderna and 5.3 million with AstraZeneca.

Two doses per patient are required for all three vaccines.

The army responsible for the reception, storage and distribution of doses

The army is responsible for receiving, storing and distributing doses, which must be kept at -70 ° C.

The first 107,000 doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech duo vaccine were delivered to Switzerland on Tuesday, then redistributed by the army to the cantons.

Vaccination, free and voluntary throughout the country, should extend over several months.

Vulnerable people are vaccinated as a priority.

“I am very happy that we were able to start vaccinations in the canton of Lucerne,” cantonal health department official Guido Graf said in the statement.

"These vaccinations are an important element in the fight against the coronavirus", he added.

Other cantons have also announced that they will carry out the first vaccinations on Wednesday.

In Geneva, Friborg and Basel-City in particular, the campaign will begin on December 28, while in Zurich, the most populous canton in Switzerland, it should not start before January 4.

New measures to stop the epidemic

The Swiss federal government announced new measures on Friday to try to stem the epidemic, which continues to progress.

Since Tuesday, restaurants, cultural and sports establishments as well as places of leisure have closed their doors.

The stores, on the other hand, can remain open but by limiting their capacity.

Ski resorts can remain open but must put in place the same restrictive measures as those for restaurants and shops, in addition to measures to ensure that skiers do not crowd at the ski lifts.

The decision to close or not will be up to each canton.

Thus, skiing in the cantons of Schwyz, Nidwalden, Lucerne and Zug will be impossible from December 22 to 29, the authorities having decided to close the ski lifts.

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