"Today is a symbolic day that must give the idea of the beauty of Europe, which has bought the vaccines for everybody and distributed them", Italy's Special Commissioner Domenico Arcuri said.
"We did not want to go it alone nationally with emergency approval".
The vaccine was then administered to Monica Tapias, the nurse who has worked at the facility for 10 years.
Portugal's first COVID-19 shot was given to Antonio Sarmento, the director of the Infectious Diseases Service at the Sao Joao University Hospital Centre in the city of Porto.
Meanwhile the University of Oxford and drug manufacturer AstraZeneca have applied to the United Kingdom authorities for permission to roll out their Covid-19 vaccine. Five people in high-risk groups for COVID-19 and those over 80 years old agreed to be vaccinated first. The first worker to receive the shot was Adrienne Kertesz, a doctor at Del-Pest Central Hospital.
"No panic, I'm ready for the challenge", the woman said before the inoculation, as cited by the Le Parisien newspaper.
Israel on Sunday began a nationwide two-week lockdown - its third since the pandemic started - after a sharp rebound in the infection rate. According to French media, there will be around 20 more vaccinations done on Sunday.
Each E.U. country will make their own decision on who gets the first shots, with most vowing to put the elderly and residents in nursing homes first.
In a sign of impatience, some European Union countries began vaccinating on Saturday, a day before the official start, with a 101-year-old woman in a care home becoming the first person in Germany to be inoculated and Hungary and Slovakia also handing out their first shots.
As AstraZeneca chief Pascal Soriot told the Sunday Times he believed researchers had found the "winning formula" for the COVID vaccine, Chancellor Rishi Sunak also praised vaccination efforts so far.
There was little sign of the usual Boxing Day sale rush on the streets of Sydney yesterday, as residents largely heeded the state premier's request they stay home faced with a new virus cluster.
HRT TV also reported that authorities would launch a pro-vaccination campaign that will include celebrities and other public figures who will get the vaccine on camera.
The first batch of COVID-19 vaccines will arrive in the Republic of Ireland today, with vaccinations set to begin from next week.
The mass vaccination against Covid-19 comes amid strict lockdown measures in many European Union states.
The news site BoroPark24 reported December 21 that ParCare claimed it had received 3,500 doses of the Moderna vaccine.
"Securing access to doses of a new vaccine for both higher-income and lower-income countries, at roughly the same time and during a pandemic, is a feat the world has never achieved before - let alone at such unprecedented speed and scale", said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which leads on procurement and delivery for COVAX.
In total, about 300 people are planned to be vaccinated on the first day of immunisation in Poland.
In Mexico, the first Pfizer shipment came on Wednesday containing only 3,000 doses of the vaccine.
"Completely painless", Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos said after getting his vaccination in a hospital in Athens.
"I am very grateful that I was chosen as the first recipient of the vaccine".
"It has been tiring. a lot of work", he told Reuters.
"We have a new weapon against the virus - the vaccine", tweeted President Emmanuel Macron. Those present during the inoculation greeted the first vaccination with applause.
After the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine last Monday, the way is open for injections across the 27-member bloc.
