01 September 2021, 15:31
70% of the EU adult population is fully vaccinated: the EU leads fight against COVID-19 in Europe
The European Union has reached an important stage - 70% of the adult
population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the
European Commission. «More than 256 million adults in the EU have
received a full course of vaccination», the European Commission informs.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: «Full
vaccination of 70% of the EU's adult population is a great achievement.
But the pandemic is not over. I call on everyone who can get
vaccinated. And we need to help the rest of the world to get vaccinated
as well. Europe will continue to support its partners in this effort,
in particular the low and middle income countries».
Global cooperation and solidarity
«Rapid, complete vaccination of all target populations in Europe and
around the world is the key to controlling the impact of the pandemic.
The EU has led a multilateral response and exported about half of the
vaccines produced in Europe to other countries around the world», the
European Commission informs.
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the EU follows a «Team Europe»
approach. The aim of this approach is to save lives by providing rapid
targeted support to the EU partners in the fight against the pandemic.
It combines resources from the EU, its member states and financial
institutions, in particular the European Investment Bank and the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Team Europe has allocated around €3 billion to the COVAX Fund to
provide at least 1.8 billion doses to 92 low-income countries. To date,
more than 200 million doses have been delivered to 138 countries
worldwide through the COVAX initiative.
The EU supports Ukraine in the fight against COVID-19
The European Union applies the Civil Protection Mechanism to coordinate
and finance up to 75% of the transport costs for the delivery of
vaccines provided by its member states to Ukraine. A total of over 3
million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were offered to Ukraine by
Denmark, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. Of
these, more than 2.5 million doses have been delivered in recent weeks.
Delivery is currently in progress.
«These donations are an important display of the European Union’s
solidarity with Ukraine in the fight against COVID-19 and the EU is
proud to support them via its Civil Protection Mechanism. Ukrainians
shall not be left behind in global vaccination efforts and I hope that
over 3 million vaccine doses from our member states will be put to use
quickly. No one is safe until everyone is safe», the Ambassador Matti
Maasikas, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine said.
As part of Team Europe, the EU has raised more than €190 million since
the beginning of 2020 to help Ukraine meet the challenges of COVID-19.
In this way, the European Union has supported the health care system,
workers at the forefront of the pandemic, small and medium-sized
enterprises, and vulnerable groups. The EU has activated its Civil
Protection Mechanism to transfer medical equipment and supplies from
the EU member states to Ukraine and is providing emergency
Macro-Financial Assistance worth EUR 1.2 billion to Ukraine to help
limit the economic fallout of the pandemic.