Days after reaching its vaccine delivery target (see EUROPE 12760/22), the European Commission welcomed the fact on Tuesday, 27 July that 70% of adults in the EU have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
“And 57% of adults already have the full protection of double vaccination”, stressed the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in a press statement.
However, this observation does conceal major inequalities between the EU-27: the latest data published by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) illustrates the relative progress of certain countries.
In countries such as Finland, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal, 80% of the adult population has received at least one dose, while in Latvia, Slovenia and Croatia that same figure has not yet exceeded 50% of the population. Romania is the country with the lowest number of vaccinated people, with 31% of adults having received a first dose, and 30% having received a second dose.
The President of the Commission did not comment on this. However, she once again emphasised the dangerousness of the Delta variant. This variant is now the most common form of SARS-CoV-2 in the EU and is currently behind about 84% of Covid-19 cases, according to the ECDC.
“I therefore call on everyone - who has the opportunity - to be vaccinated. For their own health and to protect others”, repeated Mrs von der Leyen.
On Tuesday, the European Commission also posted an interactive map showing the production capacity for Covid-19 vaccines that is available in the EU. This tool will be updated on the basis of data that is collected by the working group set up by the Commission under the framework of its ‘HERA incubator’; the purposes is to accelerate the production of vaccines by collaborating with industry (see EUROPE 12660/1).
To consult the interactive map: https://bit.ly/3BOZThN (original version in French by Agathe Cherki)