WEBVTT

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- Hello. I'm Airman
First Class Zoe Wiggins

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and welcome to the "AFN Europe Report."

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The COVID-19 vaccine has arrived in Europe

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and a lotta questions
have come along with it.

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We sat down with the head of
Regional Health Command Europe,

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Brigadier General Mark Thompson,
to learn about the vaccine

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and the distribution plan

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for U.S. military communities in Europe.

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- We're gonna start vaccinating first

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our frontline healthcare providers

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and our first responders in our community,

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and kinda work out our
systems with those groups.

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And then really, probably shortly after

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the first of the year, we'll
begin to receive vaccine

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for the rest of our population in Europe.

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And I can't say strongly enough

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that I really urge people to take this

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both safe and highly effective vaccine

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to both protect themselves,
but also to allow us

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as a community to kind of get
back to a sense of normalcy

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as quick as we can.

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The big reason why really our inpatient

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medical providers and first responders

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are the first to receive the vaccine

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is they are the group among
us that do not have the choice

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of being able to physically
distance themselves

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from the people they're taking care of.

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They have a lot of protective equipment

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that they are required
to wear as a result,

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but really their risk,
the risks that they take

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on a daily basis for the
rest of us, you know,

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really make them the highest priority

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to receive the vaccine.

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Since it has been approved

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through an emergency use
authorization, it is not mandatory.

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There was a lot of scrutiny
to these vaccines that,

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given this situation, makes me
feel they're extremely safe.

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And like I said, potentially
the safest vaccines

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I've seen delivered to the public

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during my career as a physician.

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(graphics whooshing)

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- That's all for the "AFN Europe Report."

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Thanks for watching.

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