Vaccination against Covid-19 is progressing within the EU, but still at two speeds. On Friday 27 August, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reported that 75.9% of adults aged 18 and over – in other words, 281 million people – have received at least one dose of vaccine within the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA). In some countries, however, the rate is as low as 50%.
In Bulgaria and Romania, where vaccination is progressing at the slowest rates, only 21.5% and 32% of adults have so far received a first dose of vaccine. These figures are far behind countries such as Portugal, France, Spain, Denmark and Ireland, where the rate is close to 90% or even above that.
The same is true in respect of full vaccination figures: the European average is 67.3%, but only 19.7% of Bulgarians and 31% of Romanians have been fully vaccinated according to the latest ECDC data.
The European Centre also notes that 622 million doses have thus far been distributed to EU and EEA countries, with 530 million already administered, mostly in the west of the EU.
Number of cases stabilising; mortality rate increasing
Regarding the spread of the virus, the ECDC reports a high but “stable rate of cases being notified” over the past three weeks: 204.3 per 100,000 inhabitants this week, compared with 205.2 the previous week within the EU/EEA area. The number of reported cases is 36,307,572.
The death rate has also been increasing for the past three weeks: there have been 9.6 deaths per million residents this week, compared to 7.4 last week. Several countries have also reported an upward trend in hospital admissions and admissions to intensive care units.
The trends that have been observed are expected to continue over the next two weeks according to the European Centre. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)