70% of Europeans fully vaccinated against COVID-19, says EU chief Von der Leyen

President of the European Commission Von der Leyen on Tuesday said 70 per cent of adults in the 27-nation bloc have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

She said they have achieved the "end-of-summer target in January itself".

In a video statement posted on Twitter, Leyen welcomed the “great achievement”, saying, “Today, we reached an important milestone in our vaccination campaign. 70 per cent of adults in the EU are now fully vaccinated and that means 250 million people are fully immunised.”

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The European Commission, which is the executive organ of the European Union, is responsible for ordering vaccines for the EU states.

The EU's COVID-19 vaccination campaign got off to a slow start due to supply shortages and delays but is now among the most successful worldwide. They had already announced in July that 70 per cent of the adult population in the region had received at least one dose.

Leyen said the union was also a “lead contributor” to the COVAX initiative, which aims to deliver vaccines to low-income nations.

The rate of fully vaccinated adults is about 20 per cent in Bulgaria, 32.8 per cent in Romania, 49 per cent in Slovakia and 58.1 per cent in Poland.

(With inputs from agencies)