EU celebrates beating US Covid-19 vaccination rate

BRUSSELS – European Union leaders yesterday celebrated their Covid-19 vaccination programme reaching a higher proportion of the bloc’s residents than in the United States, which had outpaced it for months.

“We promised it, and it’s done. The EU this week overtook the US as the continent with the most first doses in the world,” tweeted commissioner Thierry Breton.

Citing statistics website Our World in Data, France’s Europe minister, Clement Beaune, said the EU has now given 55.5% of its collective population a first dose, compared with 55.4% across the Atlantic.

Brussels’ strategy for rolling out Covid-19 shots was widely criticised early this year, lagging behind Britain and the US for lack of supply.

But Breton, who runs a group working on boosting vaccine production and supply, said the EU has overtaken its transatlantic rival, while “remaining #open and exporting half of our production to 100+ countries”, hailing “efficiency and solidarity” on Europe’s part.

At the height of the vaccine scheme’s teething troubles, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in February acknowledged mistakes by the Brussels authority.

She nevertheless insisted that “the battle against the pandemic is not a sprint, but a marathon”. – AFP, July 18, 2021