The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced, on Saturday 10 July, that the EU had fulfilled its commitment to deliver enough doses to the EU27 to allow 70% of European adults to be fully vaccinated in July (see EUROPE 12705/1).
“By tomorrow, some 500 million vaccine doses will have been distributed right across the regions of the European Union”, the president said.
However, the number of doses administered is still far from being in line with the number of doses delivered. According to the latest data published by the ECDC - valid for the European Economic Area and dated 4 July this year - 65% of adults over the age of 18 have already received a dose. However, only 43% of them were fully vaccinated.
“Now, Member States must do everything to increase vaccinations”, the president stressed. “Only then will we be safe”, she said, adding that the EU was ready to deliver more vaccines.
The latest order placed by the Commission on behalf of the Member States was announced last Tuesday, 6 July, for an additional 40 million doses of the vaccine produced by Johnson&Johnson. Only some States have decided to make use of this possibility. The contract with the firm initially offered the EU27 the opportunity to order up to 200 million additional doses. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)