ROME: Italy will give all its citizens free vaccinations against coronavirus starting with doctors and care home residents once the jabs are approved, its health minister said Wednesday. The immunisation drive is expected to begin in the spring. Italy will get its vaccines via an EU procurement programme and is waiting for the European Medicines Agency's green light, Roberto Speranza said.

Britain on Wednesday became the first western country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine for general use, announcing the rollout of a vaccine developed by Germany's BioNTech and its US partner Pfizer from next week. Meanwhile Europe's medicines regulator has said it will decide by December 29 whether to grant emergency approval to Pfizer-BioNTech's jab, ahead of a rival treatment from Moderna. The latest timeline suggests Europeans would be lucky to receive the first jabs before the year is over.

Italy, the first European country to be hit hard by the pandemic early this year, has been battling a new surge in infections in recent months that has taken the total death toll past 56,000.