MADRID/ROME (REUTERS) – Europe launched a mass Covid-19 vaccination drive on Sunday (Dec 27) with pensioners and medics lining up to get the first shots to see off a pandemic that has crippled economies and claimed more than 1.7 million lives worldwide.

“Thank God,” 96-year-old Araceli Hidalgo said as she became the first person in Spain to have a vaccine at her care home in Guadalajara, near the capital Madrid.

“Let’s see if we can make this virus go away.”