Almost 10 months after the first Italian patient tested positive for the new coronavirus, Italy on Sunday vaccinated the first residents against COVID-19. Three health workers at the Rome Spallanzani hospital were inoculated shortly before 0700 GMT with the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, a statement by the commissioner for the epidemic Domenico Arcuri said.

“The vaccine went very well and it was an exciting, historical moment,” 29-year-old nurse Claudia Alivernini told state-owned television RAINEWS24. “It is the beginning of the end and I hope to be the first of over 60 millions of Italians”. Italy on Thursday became the eighth country in the world to exceed 2 million officially recorded cases. It has reported 70,909 deaths, the highest toll in Europe and the fifth highest in the world.