Vaccinations against COVID-19 have begun in European Union countries amid a spike in infections following the detection of a new, highly infectious variant of the coronavirus in Britain and other European nations.

France, Italy, Austria, Portugal, Spain and Sweden are reportedly the first EU countries to administer the vaccine within their respective borders on Sunday.

Germany gave the shots to a small number of people on Saturday, a day before the country's official start of its vaccination campaign.

Hungary also administered the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech to frontline workers after receiving its first shipment on Saturday.

In most countries, the vaccine will first be given to vulnerable people at nursing homes and first-priority medical workers.

According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, the European bloc's 27 member nations have seen a combined 14 million coronavirus cases as of mid-December, with 336-thousand deaths.