2/3 of EU population vaccinated against COVID-19 over last year

By Omer Tugrul Cam

BRUSSELS (AA) – Since the start of COVID-19 vaccinations within the EU one year ago, over two-thirds of the population or 67.8% has gotten fully vaccinated, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) announced Monday.

To date, 710 million vaccine shots have been administered in the vaccination campaign in EU countries that started on Dec. 27, 2020, the data showed.

As many as 303 million people within the EU borders are fully vaccinated as of today, in a bloc with a population of about 450 million people.

About 327 million people, or 72.2% of the population, have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine.

At least 104 million people living within the EU borders also got a booster shot, or about 23% of the population.

The EU country with the highest vaccination rate is currently Denmark, with 83% of the people fully vaccinated, followed by Portugal with 82.2%, Malta with 82%, Ireland with 77%, Belgium with 76.1%, and Spain with 74.9%.

The lowest vaccination rates are seen in Eastern Europe.

The rate of fully vaccinated people in Bulgaria is 27.1%, while in Romania it is 40.1%, in Slovakia 47.4%, and in Croatia 51.7%.

There are currently five approved COVID-19 vaccines in use within the EU, with BioNTech-Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson in use for months, while Novavax was approved just last week.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 5.4 million lives in at least 192 countries and regions, with more than 280 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US’ Johns Hopkins University.​​​​​​​

* Writing by Merve Berker