Slovakia starts coronavirus vaccination programme

Just hours after the coronavirus vaccines arrived in Slovakia, authorities began administering the first doses on Saturday evening.Vladimir Krcmery, a 60-year-old expert on infectious diseases, became the first person to receive a jab at University Hospital in the city of Nitra, 75 kilometers (47 miles) east of the capital Bratislava.

The vaccines were also distributed to three other hospitals in the cities of Kosice, Banska Bystrica and Bratislava. Front line medical staff in hospitals treating COVID-19 patients will be among the first to get the vaccine. President Zuzana Caputova is scheduled to get vaccinated on Sunday.

Slovakia is the second EU country, after Hungary, that started the vaccination campaign immediately after the vaccine's arrival.The others plan to start Sunday. The country of 5.4 million has had 165,608 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and reported 1732 deaths, according to John Hopkins University.