First AstraZeneca vaccine shipment lands in Italy

The first delivery of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines arrived in Italy on Saturday.Italy's Ministry of Defence said that 249,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine arrived at the Pratica Di Mare military airport, about 40 kilometers (24 miles) south of the capital Rome.The base functions as a national hub for vaccine distribution across Italy.

The Ministry said that the doses will be distributed to the country's regions by the army in the coming days.The health ministry predicted that Italians could receive their AstraZeneca vaccinations from as early as next week.

But despite welcoming the imminent arrival of the vaccine, the government expressed disappointment at the number of doses received from manufacturers so far.Initial expectations were that Italy would receive 28 million doses of the vaccine in the first trimester of 2021, or nine million a month.Only two million doses arrived in January, far less than those expected.