How is Monaco’s vaccine campaign faring?
Gouvernement princier
Around the world, there seems to be two general trends when it comes to carrying coronavirus vaccines. On the one hand, we have Israel that is rolling out vaccines at the speed of light; on the other, countries like France and the United State, where the national vaccination campaign seems to be stalling. In Monaco, vaccines arrive on 30 December.
On Thursday 31 December, Monaco carried out its first vaccine jab. It was administered at 5 pm at the Hector Otto Foundation to Yolande, 94 years of age, who officially became the first Monaco resident to be vaccinated against coronavirus.
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Senior Monaco residents over 75 years of age will have priority over the 5,000 Pfizer and BioNtech vaccine doses bought by Monaco’s government. Anyone who falls into the age range is invited to contact the Covid-19 call center to request vaccination.
Our priority is to protect our elders and the most vulnerable
Didier Gamerdinger, Minister of Health and Social Affairs
How does the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine work?
Approved by the European Medicines Agency, the vaccine is free of charge in the Principality and is not compulsory. The vaccine does not contain the virus itself and cannot cause Covid-19. When a person receives the jab, some of their cells momentarily produce a protein contained in the coronavirus.
The person’s immune system will then treat the protein as a foreign body, producing antibodies and activating T-lymphocytes (white blood cells) to attack it. If the person is subsequently infected with coronavirus, the body will recognise the virus, and attack it before it can cause harm to the body.
>> MORE ON THE TOPIC: Information on coronavirus vaccines from the Prince’s government