In the fight against the corona pandemic, the EU is celebrating the achievement of an important goal.
Original hopes, however, have been dashed.
Brussels - The vaccination against the corona virus continues.
Pictures of vaccinations from the states of the European Union are already making their way throughout the year.
Now the EU has achieved an important goal in the fight against the coronavirus.
According to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday, 70 percent of adults in the international community are now fully vaccinated.
"That is more than 250 million people who are immunized," said the head of the EU executive.
She spoke of a “great achievement” and a “milestone”.
In Germany, 60.5 percent of the total population had been fully vaccinated by August 30th.
According to the vaccination dashboard, 65.1 percent received at least one vaccination dose.
Corona in the EU: January target reached - but Delta shatters hopes
The goal of vaccinating 70 percent of adults in the European Union against Covid-19 by the end of summer was set by the EU Commission in January.
At the time, experts assumed that around two thirds of the population would have to be vaccinated in order to stop the corona pandemic in a country.
Although this hope has been dashed because of the significantly more contagious Delta variant, the pressure on health systems and society has been enormously reduced by the vaccination campaign.
Immunization, for example, has greatly reduced the number of serious illnesses and deaths.
At the same time, many restrictions on public life could be lifted again.
+
Ursula von der Leyen (CDU), President of the European Commission (archive picture)
© Francisco Seco / dpa
Catching up: The US is now behind the EU in terms of immunization rates
With the achievement of the 70 percent target, the EU has also made a successful comeback.
For example, the USA was initially much quicker to offer vaccinations to the population.
This was mainly due to the fact that very little vaccine was initially available in the EU.
Today the United States lags behind the EU in immunization rates.
The EU has not yet set itself a new, even higher vaccination target.
On Tuesday, however, the commission once again encouraged all vaccine skeptics to be immunized.
“We can't stop here.
New variants make it necessary to go beyond 70 percent to be safe, ”said Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides.
It is now a matter of being one step ahead.
She also pointed out that the 70 percent is only an average and that EU countries such as Romania and Bulgaria recently had vaccination rates well below 50 percent.
"We urgently need to close the worrying gap between our Member States on vaccination rates," she said.
To do this, it is necessary to further sharpen awareness and combat misinformation.
Anti-vaccination campaigns and disinformation complicate the corona vaccination campaign in the EU
In Bulgaria, for example, there is massive disinformation on social networks and widespread prejudice.
Many people are against vaccinations, including politicians from important parties.
Von der Leyen also called for greater support to be provided for comparatively poor countries outside the EU.
“More needs to be done,” she said.
"The pandemic has not yet been overcome."
(Dpa / cibo)
List of rubric lists: © Francisco Seco / dpa
