The full schedule vaccination rate in the whole of the European Union and associated countries such as Norway or Iceland is stagnant at 66.2%.
The European Commission (EC) requested this Tuesday that the countries of the European Union accelerate the generalized administration of booster doses against covid, given the rapid advance of infections in much of the EU and given the uncertainty generated by the new variant omicron.
“We are in a kind of war. On one side we have the virus and the variants and on the other the vaccines and booster doses. And I want the second part to win,” said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in an appearance before the press on the epidemiological situation in the EU.
The full schedule vaccination rate in the whole of the European Union and associated countries such as Norway or Iceland is stagnant at 66.2% of the total population, with little change in recent weeks.
“We are facing a tough double challenge. On the one hand we are in the middle of the fourth wave” of the delta variant, concentrated “especially in those who are not fully vaccinated”, and on the other the new strain, said Von der Leyen, on the day two years have passed since he assumed the command of the European Commission.
German policy pointed out that it will still be “two or three weeks” until the effects on transmissibility and virulence of the omicron variant are known, initially detected in South Africa but also found in several European countries even in infections prior to the South African report.
“At this time we do not know everything about this variant, but we know enough to be concerned,” added Von der Leyen, a doctor by training, who recalled that the World Health Organization (WHO) considers the new strain to be “very high” risk. .
The German stressed that what is known with scientific solidity is that “complete vaccination and booster doses provide the best protection against covid” available at the moment.
In that sense, the German policy said that Biontech-Pfizer has informed it that it can accelerate the production of vaccines for children from five years old, which will be available in the EU from next December 13.
And if it is detected that the omicron variant does not respond well to vaccines, the contracts with vaccine suppliers signed by the European Commission contemplate updates of the drugs, which would take “about 100 days”, that is, about four months.
“Aspire for the best and prepare for the worst,” summarized Von der Leyen in the presentation of a communication on covid addressed to the countries.
In that document, in addition to encouraging the distribution of “third doses”, the Commission calls on the capitals to accept the COVID certificate to travel up to nine months after the administration of the last dose, not to demand additional PCR tests and to focus its measurements in individuals and not in the EU countries from which they come because the Union is “more or less the same epidemiological region”.
Brussels also requests that the Member States “establish specific and proportionate precautions and restrictions to limit the spread of the virus, save lives and reduce pressure on health systems”, among other measures already known.
Together with Von der Leyen, the European Health Commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, stressed that the EU is facing “a very worrying epidemiological situation” and called for action against “misinformation” related to vaccines, which is one of the vectors that prevents progress in general immunization.
Mandatory vaccination
Greece has announced that those over 60 will have to be vaccinated, under penalty of 100 euros, and Austria will punish those who do not accept the drug with 7,200 euros from next February, while the debate also takes flight in other Member States.
Asked about the advisability of making vaccination compulsory, Von der Leyen pointed out that health competencies in the EU fall entirely on the Member States, but on a personal basis he considered that this debate must be entered into.
“I think it is understandable and appropriate” to have a debate and “potentially think about compulsory vaccination in the EU,” Von der Leyen said given the exceptional situation, with a rapid increase in infections in much of the EU and low rates of vaccination in many states, even though drugs are available, unlike in many other parts of the world.
“Two or three years ago I would never have imagined witnessing what we see now, that we have a terrible pandemic and vaccines but they are not used properly everywhere and it carries a huge health cost,” he lamented. (I)
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