The first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in Luxembourg on Saturday. The first round of vaccinations will begin on Monday, as planned. 

Upon arrival, the vaccines were stored in a secret location. Requirements for storage are extreme, with the vaccines required to remain at a temperature of -80° to maintain efficacy.

These doses will be used during the first vaccinations, to take place from Monday to Wednesday at the Victor Hugo Hall in Limpertsberg. In total, Luxembourg will receive 9,700 vaccines during the first allocation phase, making it possible to vaccinate 4,850 individuals.

As foreseen in the vaccination strategy, the first to be vaccinated will be health professionals and hospital staff, as well as ambulance attendants

Staff at elderly care facilities, as well as those in the care networks, will follow, as will individuals residing in these same facilities, probably from the very beginning of January, depending on the supply of vaccines.

This strategy follows the advice of Luxembourg’s national ethics commission. Other countries have chosen to vaccinate seniors and those most at risk of infection first. This is, for example, the case in Belgium and France where the first injections took place on Sunday.

This article was originally published in French on Paperjam.lu and has been translated into English for Delano.