EU meets 70% vaccination target by July

BRUSSELS

The European Union reached its target of vaccinating 70% of its adult population with at least one jab by July, the bloc’s top official confirmed on Tuesday.

“The EU has kept its word and delivered,” Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, announced in a video statement.

At least 57% of adults have already been fully vaccinated, she added.

Von der Leyen also warned of the dangers of the highly contagious Delta variant and urged everyone who has not been inoculated yet to get their jabs.

The European Commission set in March the objective to vaccinate 70% of the adult population – a minimum to reach herd immunity – by July.

The jabs were provided in the framework of bloc’s advanced purchase agreements with six vaccine producers – Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, CureVac, Johnson & Johnson, and Sanofi/GlaxoSmithKline – to buy about 2.6 billion vaccine doses.

In addition, the European Commission agreed with Pfizer/BioNTech to purchase another 1.8 billion doses for 2022 and 2023.