DJ Europe Hits Covid-19 Milestone With 70% of Adults Vaccinated

By Jason Douglas

The European Union said it has hit its target of fully vaccinating 70% of adults against Covid-19 by the end of summer--albeit with wide variations between different countries--showing how the bloc's vaccination campaign has gathered momentum after a slow start earlier in the year.

But the World Health Organization has warned the pace of vaccinations in the continent now appears to be faltering, and that data show big differences in vaccine coverage between different countries, leaving parts of Europe at risk of fresh outbreaks and new restrictions to step the spread](https://www.wsj.com/articles/eu-recommends-halting-nonessential-travel-from-u-s-over-covid-19-11630338273?mod=articleinline) of the highly infectious [Delta variant of the virus (https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/latest-updates/covid-19-delta-variant-vaccine?mod=articleinline).

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, said Tuesday that more than 256 million people in the 27-member bloc have received two doses of vaccine, equivalent to 70% of the adult population. In the U.S., 63% of people 18 or over are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The U.K. has fully vaccinated 77% of those aged 16 and over.

Of the EU's total population of around 447 million people, just under 58% have been fully vaccinated, according to the University of Oxford's Our World in Data project. That compares with 52% of the total U.S. population and 63% in the U.K.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the 70% milestone "a great achievement which really shows what we can do when we work together."

Data show substantial differences in vaccine coverage between EU member states. Portugal, for instance, has vaccinated 82% of people 18 or over and given at least one dose to 94% of its adult population. In Bulgaria, only around one-fifth of adults have had a first dose.

European vaccination efforts picked up speed in April and May as supply problems eased. By mid May, the bloc was administering more than 20 million doses a week, and weekly shots peaked at 28.6 million in the first week of June, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

The pace has since slowed. EU countries administered just 3.5 million doses in the week ended Sunday, ECDC data show. WHO Europe director Hans Kluge on Monday urged governments in the EU and the wider European region to revive flagging vaccination campaigns by boosting access in the continent's poorer countries and combating vaccine hesitancy in others.

"Vaccine skepticism and science denial is holding us back from stabilizing this crisis. It serves no purpose, and is good for no one," Mr. Kluge told reporters.

"We need to close the immunity gap," European health commissioner Stella Kyriakides said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that broader vaccination coverage is needed to halt the spread of any new variants of the virus that arise.

The EU's decision to centralize vaccine procurement and distribution drew criticism earlier this year when supply hiccups left countries such as France, Germany and Italy trailing behind the U.S. and Britain in the pace of vaccinations (https://www.wsj.com/articles/europe-despairs-as-covid-19-vaccine-rollout-stalls-and-pandemic-grinds-on-11616497200?mod=article_inline).

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August 31, 2021 13:39 ET (17:39 GMT)

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