'It felt like a mosquito bite': Swedes get COVID-19 jab

Sweden rolled out its COVID-19 inoculation programme with the first jabs going into the arms of the elderly on Sunday.It received 9,750 doses on Saturday as part of an EU-wide rollout of the Pfizer-BioNTech  vaccine.

Börje Gren, among the first to get the vaccine in Sweden, said it 'only felt like a moqsuito bite'.The country stood out among European nations for its comparatively hands-off response to the pandemic.

The Scandinavian country has not gone into lockdowns or closed businesses, relying instead on citizens' sense of civic duty to control infections.However, it has seen a rapid increase in confirmed cases that is straining its healthcare system.

Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf has said his country has failed to protect the elderly in care homes from the effects of the pandemic.

Sweden, which has a population of 10 million, has reported nearly  400,000 confirmed virus cases and over 8,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

(IMAGE CREDITS:AP)