EU secures enough anti-COVID doses to vaccinate 70% of adults, EU chief proclaims

"Now, member states must do everything, to increase vaccinations. Only then will we be safe," she said.

“The European Union has kept its word. This weekend we have delivered enough vaccines to member states to be in a position to vaccinate fully at least 70 per cent of the EU adults this month,” von der Leyen said in a video statement on Saturday.

“But COVID-19 is not yet defeated. We are prepared to deliver more vaccines, including against new variants,” said von der Leyen, who faced sharp criticism at the start of 2021 for failing to ensure companies delivered contracted vaccines.

The Commission chief said in a statement that some 500 million doses will have been distributed to the 27 member states by Sunday, putting them "in a position to vaccinate fully at least 70% of EU adults still this month."

She warned however that "COVID-19 is not yet defeated" and that the EU stands ready to deliver more vaccines, including "against new variants."

According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control's Vaccine Tracker, 63.8% of the bloc's population aged 18 and over has received at least one dose with 44.1% receiving a full vaccination course.

More than 320 million of the doses received by EU countries so far have been from Pfizer/BioNTech. 

AstraZeneca/Oxford University has delivered 84 million doses, Moderna 43.3 million and Johnson & Johnson, which produces a single-dose vaccine, has delivered 18 million jabs.