ROME: Italy expects to begin COVID-19 vaccinations between Christmas and New Year's Day, a government source told Reuters on Wednesday, with the country set to receive an initial 1.83 million shots from Pfizer to begin its campaign.

On Tuesday, Germany, France, Italy and five other European states announced they would coordinate the start of their COVID-19 vaccinations.

The campaign will begin before the end of 2020 so long as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gives its green light to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine at a meeting scheduled for Dec. 21.