Coronavirus vaccinations in Latvia and Malta begin

Health care workers rolled up their sleeves across the European Union on Monday to receive the coronavirus vaccine.

Doctors and nurses in the Latvian capital Riga, and the Maltese capital Valletta, were among those vaccinated.

Weeks after the US, Canada and Britain began inoculations with the same vaccine, the 27-nation bloc staged a coordinated rollout aimed at projecting a unified message that the shot was safe and Europe’s best chance to emerge from the pandemic.

For health care workers who have been battling the virus with only masks and shields to protect themselves, the vaccines represented an emotional relief as the virus continues to kill. But it was also a public chance for them to urge Europe's 450 million people to get the vaccine shot.