BERLIN - Europe has taken delivery of more than 100 million
doses of COVID-19 vaccines that should help the region's initially sluggish
inoculation drive finally gather momentum, according to a weekly monitoring
report.
اضافة اعلان
A total of 104 million doses have been sent to countries in
the European Union and European Economic Area, working out at 27.7 doses per
100 inhabitants, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
said.
That compared to 82 million doses that have been
administered to date, according to
figures showing an
increase in the number of doses available to inject into the arms of Europeans.
It's a rare piece of good news for a vaccination campaign
that has relied on a centralized EU procurement and approvals process that has
been made to look slow by Israel, Britain and the United States.
Europe also bet heavily on the vaccine from AstraZeneca, which
has encountered production problems, while cases of rare blood clotting in some
recipients have prompted governments to recommend its use only in people aged
over 60.
The data tied in with a pick-up in the pace in big EU
countries like Germany, which hit a record daily tally of more than 700,000
doses administered on Thursday - after drafting family doctors this week to
support its existing network of vaccination centers.
"With increasing deliveries, the number of vaccinations
we can do is rising," German Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Friday,
forecasting a further acceleration in doses to be sent to family doctors in
May.
On average, 16 percent of adults in Europe have received a
first shot while 6.7 percent have been fully vaccinated, typically by getting a
second injection. By contrast, 62 percent of Israelis have received at least one
dose of COVID-19 vaccine, 47 percent in Britain and 34 percent in the United
States.
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