Brussels (AFP)
More than a quarter of the EU's population has received at least one dose of the anti-Covid vaccine, the European Commission greeted on Tuesday, and more than 9% of its inhabitants are now fully vaccinated according to an AFP count .
"Vaccination is accelerating in Europe: we have just passed 150 million vaccinations (...) We will have enough doses to vaccinate 70% of adults in the EU by July," tweeted Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European executive.
In detail, at least 153.8 million doses have been administered to around 112.4 million people, or 25.1% of the population of the European Union, according to official figures recorded at midday on Tuesday by AFP.
At least 41.9 million people are fully vaccinated (with two doses, or with the single dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson), or 9.4% of the population.
The Commission, responsible for vaccine pre-orders on behalf of the Member States, expects the delivery of at least 410 million doses in total over the whole of the second quarter (250 million BioNTech-Pfizer doses, 35 million Moderna, 55 million from Johnson & Johnson, as well as 70 million from AstraZeneca).
Brussels has been heavily criticized for the delay in vaccination campaigns in the EU, due to delays in the regulatory approval process and AstraZeneca's failures in deliveries.
Despite the recent acceleration, the EU still lags behind the United States (around 30% of the fully vaccinated population), Israel (58%) and the United Kingdom (23%).
In France, as of May 3, some 22.82 million doses had been administered in total to 16.13 million people, or 23.9% of the population.
Among them, 6.75 million are fully vaccinated (10% of the population).
In Belgium, 3.99 million doses have been administered and more than 856,000 people are fully vaccinated (7.4% of the population).
© 2021 AFP