Pope, Queen advocate vaccines as Germany’s Covid deaths top 40k

THE COMING WEEKS WILL BE “THE HARDEST PHASE OF THE PANDEMIC” SO FAR, GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL SAID, WITH HOSPITALS STRETCHED TO THEIR LIMITS.

ROME: Pope Francis and Britain’s Queen Elizabeth became the latest high-profile figures to join the global vaccination campaign against the coronavirus as Germany on Sunday reported 40,000 fatalities since the pandemic began a year ago.

And German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that the worst was still to come. More than 1.9 million people worldwide have now died from the virus, with new variants adding to soaring cases and prompting the re-introduction of restrictions on movement across the globe - even with mass inoculation drives underway.

Pope Francis urged people to get the vaccination saying he would be inoculated against the virus himself next week when the Vatican begins its campaign and denouncing opposition to the jab.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip received their Covid-19 vaccinations on Saturday, said Buckingham Palace.

A source told the Press Association news agency that the queen, 94, and Philip, 99, were given the injections by a royal household doctor at Windsor Castle.

More than 1.5 million people in Britain have so far been inoculated, in the biggest immunisation programme in national history, with the elderly, their carers and health workers first in line.

Countries across the world are following suit with coronavirus shots approved including those by Pfizer-biontech and Moderna and domestically made jabs from Russia and China.

Britain is racing to protect as many people as possible as a new variant believed to be more contagious pushes infections and deaths to unprecedented levels. Health authorities announced more than three million coronavirus infections since the pandemic began last year. The total UK death toll stands at 80,868, one of the highest in Europe.

Germany topped 40,000 fatalities on Sunday, the centre for disease control announced.

In her weekly video message, Chancellor Merkel had warned Saturday that the full impact of socialising over the Christmas and New Year’s period had yet to be felt.