The Pfizer vaccine will be flown to Italy on six planes Tuesday night and land in six airports including Milan and Rome after being stuck in Belgium due to snow, sources said Tuesday.
The German drugs giant will then distribute the COVID vaccine it made with BioNtech to the first 203 administration sites in Italy's regions.
The first Italians to get the jab will be health workers and care home residents.
Snow has delayed the arrival of the new COVID vaccine in Italy for at least a day.
A shipment of 470,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had risked staying in Belgium because of the wintry weather that has hit Europe.
Italian regions have been forced to await the arrival of the vaccine by Pfizer in their hubs, from which they will supply hospitals and care homes.
Medical facilities will be surveilled by police during the roll-out.
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