70% of adults in Europe fully vaccinated against COVID-19: EU Chief

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on August 31 said that the 27-nation bloc reached its goal of vaccinating 70 per cent of European adults by the end of summer. In a video statement, von der Leyen welcomed the “great achievement”. She said that the milestone meant more than 250 million people were now vaccinated in the European Union. 

Back in July, the EU had announced that 70 per cent of the adult population had received at least one dose. The EU's COVID-19 vaccination campaign got off to a slow start due to vaccine supply shortages and delays. But now it is among the most successful worldwide. During the same video statement, von der Leyen further informed that the union was also a "lead contributor" to the COVAX initiative, which aims to deliver vaccines to low-income nations.

Meanwhile, the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic is now dominated by the battle against the Delta variant, which is a more contagious version of the COVID-19 virus. On Monday, the WHO separately said that it fears the high transmission rate of COVID-19 across Europe will lead to the death of another 236,000 by December 1 this year. While addressing the reporters, WHO Europe director Hans Kluge said that several countries have seen an increased burden on hospitals and more deaths. He noted an 11 per cent increase in the number of deaths in the region and projected around 2,36,000 deaths in Europe by December 1. 

Delta variant responsible for recent outbreak 

The WHO official underlined three factors for the rise in coronavirus cases. According to him, the most contagious delta variant is responsible for the recent outbreak in European countries. Kluge noted that the easing of public health measures in countries like the United States also played a significant role in the sudden increase of covid cases. The WHO official said that the high transmission is deeply worrying – particularly in the light of low vaccination uptake in priority populations in several countries.

"In roughly eight months, nearly 850 million doses have been administered, with roughly half of the people of the Region being fully vaccinated. This is a remarkable achievement!" said Hans Kluge. 

"However, in the past 6 weeks, vaccination uptake in the Region has slowed down, influenced by a lack of access to vaccines in some countries and a lack of vaccine acceptance in others. As of today, only 6% of people in lower- and lower-middle-income countries in our Region have completed a full vaccination series,” he added. 

(With inputs from AP)