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Berlin (dpa) - The vaccination campaign started rather slowly in Germany.

On the one hand, there is restraint, while at the same time there are complaints about insufficient vaccine.

The Federal Government and the EU Commission had to listen to a lot of criticism.

Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) emphasized again and again that the vaccine would be scarce for weeks and months - especially at the beginning, since production capacities are still limited.

A look across the border shows that it looks similar in other countries.

One EU country even started vaccinating on Wednesday.

GREAT BRITAIN: The British have so far been one step ahead of the EU when it comes to vaccination: The vaccine from Biontech and Pfizer was approved as an emergency at the beginning of December.

The first British woman was vaccinated on December 8th.

Since the beginning of January, another drug has been available with the domestic vaccine from Oxford University and the pharmaceutical company Astrazeneca.

According to the government, more than 1.3 million people have been vaccinated against corona so far.

The speed of the vaccination campaign is to be significantly accelerated, with the goal of two million vaccinations per week.

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FRANCE: In the first week after the vaccination started on December 27, there were only a few hundred vaccinations in France, according to the media.

Official figures were initially sought in vain.

French regional politicians accused the government in Paris of failure and did not feel involved.

France's vaccination campaign planned to first vaccinate older people in nursing homes and older staff on site in January and February.

The authorities defended the slow pace that was logistically difficult.

After massive criticism, the group of people was finally expanded - for example to people over 75 years of age who do not live in homes, as well as other health workers.

Hundreds of vaccination centers are now also to open.

ITALY: Italy also administered the first long-awaited vaccine doses from Pfizer-Biontech on December 27th.

After the start, however, there was immediate criticism that the vaccinations started too slowly.

At the turn of the year, according to media reports, doctors and hospital staff were also lacking in some regions to administer the vaccinations.

In Lombardy, one of the hardest hit by the corona pandemic, doctors had only injected around 14 percent of the available vaccinations by the beginning of this week - in contrast to most of the other regions in the country with around 60 million inhabitants who at this point had already given almost half of the vaccine doses they received.

However, the campaign picked up speed in the new year.

A total of around 412,600 corona vaccinations had been injected by Friday morning - the majority went to health care workers.

SPAIN: The slow start of the corona vaccination campaign is also causing great outrage in Spain.

According to the Ministry of Health, from the start of the vaccination on December 27th to Thursday, only just under 28 percent of the doses received had been administered - around 207,000 of a total of 743,925 units.

The region around the capital Madrid was doing particularly badly: by Tuesday evening, only 11.5 percent of the doses received had been vaccinated there.

Opposition leader Pablo Casado of the conservative People's Party PP called for the resignation of Health Minister Salvador Illa.

He protested that everything was going according to plan.

Among other things, it is criticized that there is no vaccination at all on weekends and holidays.

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BELGIUM: After a one-week test run at the end of December, Belgium announced this week that it would start vaccinating against the coronavirus on a large scale.

According to the plan, 70 percent of the population should be vaccinated by late summer, which should achieve nationwide immunity.

Initially, only around 700 volunteers in some nursing homes had received vaccination protection.

The opposition criticized that Belgium was lagging behind when it came to vaccinations, especially compared to Germany.

AUSTRIA: After the first vaccinations on December 21, around 6,800 people in old people's homes had been vaccinated by the beginning of the week - a fraction of the previous German balance in terms of population.

After massive public criticism of the slow implementation, the large-scale vaccination start, which was originally planned for January 12, was brought forward.

More than 21,000 vaccinations are expected to take place this week, and another 43,000 by next Tuesday.

In terms of quantities, the country believes it is on the safe side.

5.5 million doses of the Biontech / Pfizer vaccine alone are planned for Austria with a population of just under nine million.

SWITZERLAND: In individual cantons of Switzerland, vaccination started in front of the cameras before Christmas, although only 100,000 vaccine doses had been delivered by Biontech / Pfizer.

At the beginning of January, another 126,000 vaccine doses arrived - with 8.5 million residents still a drop in the bucket.

Vaccination appointments were fully booked within minutes, and vaccination centers initially remained largely empty due to a lack of material.

The government was criticized for bad planning.

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THE NETHERLANDS: As the very last country in the EU, the Netherlands started vaccination last Wednesday.

But only from January 15th, all 25 vaccination centers across the country will actually be operational.

Since Christmas, the vaccine has been stored unused in a hall - most recently it was around 280,000 doses.

Parliament and the public had accused the government of “vaccination chaos” and “total failure”.

In the end, doctors themselves took the initiative to vaccinate doctors and nurses for corona patients.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte admitted mistakes.

The authorities should have prepared earlier and better for mass vaccinations.

EU: The EU Commission has defended itself against criticism several times.

The EU states had jointly agreed on a vaccination strategy and decided to order the vaccines as one.

"I am deeply convinced that this European path is the right one and I believe that retrospect will prove it," said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The mass vaccinations are a "logistical challenge".

It was clear from the start that you couldn't vaccinate all of them "at once".

The number of vaccinations must be increased "quickly".

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210109-99-953331 / 2