More than half of adults in European Union countries fully vaccinated against Covid

The European Union on Thursday said that 200 million Europeans had been fully vaccinated against coronavirus. This translates to more than half of the adult population in European Union. However the bloc still short of 70 per cent target it had set for the summer.

European Commission spokeswoman Dana Spinant told reporters that based on the latest data of the European Centre for Disease Control "54.7 percent of the adult population is fully vaccinated with either two doses or one dose in the case of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine".

"We have 68.4 per cent of adults in the EU who have already had their first dose," she added.

"We are now among the regions of the world that have vaccinated the most, but it is important that this progress is distributed in a more balanced way so that there are no pockets where the virus can spread and mutate," she added.

Rollout of vaccines was slower in Europe than in the UK or US due to supply shortages. This had drawn heavy criticism earlier this year.

The European Commission, which coordinated vaccine orders for the 27 member states, was the subject of many of the complaints.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen had announced on July 10 that the EU had enough doses to vaccinate "at least 70 percent of the adult population this month".

According to official data compiled by AFP, just over 440 million doses have been administered in the European Union. That is 98.4 doses per 100 inhabitants, while the United States are at 102.4 per 100 inhabitants. 

(With inputs from agencies)