Von der Leyen: More Than Half of Adult EU Citizens Vaccinated Once
More than half of the European Union’s adult population, or about 175 million people, has had at least one shot against Covid-19.
And 100 million EU citizens have already been fully vaccinated, tweets European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Full means two vaccines from AstraZeneca, Pfizer or Moderna or one from Janssen.
“We are well on our way to achieving our goal of delivering enough doses to have 70 percent of European adults vaccinated by next month,” said the German.
That target is based on the experts’ assumption that vaccination coverage of at least 70 percent would be enough for so-called herd immunity. Anyone who becomes infected will contact too few unprotected others to continue passing on the virus. As a result, an outbreak extinguishes.
But now, experts are raising the bar. For example, because new variants of the coronavirus may also spread among vaccinated people. Experts such as RIVM leader Jaap van Dissel expect the virus to continue to circulate. Vaccination of a higher percentage of citizens, including children, may therefore be necessary.
