In the fight against the highly contagious Corona variant Omikron, the EU is relying on accelerated booster vaccinations. “Offering vaccinations for everyone and providing booster doses is crucial and urgent,” said the joint conclusions on the corona pandemic that the European heads of state and government adopted on Thursday at their Brussels summit. Brussels is also planning to limit the validity of vaccination certificates for travel within the EU to nine months.
A general compulsory vaccination in the EU has therefore not yet emerged. Germany and Austria have initiated such a measure, and in Germany the Bundestag is due to vote on it shortly. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently described the debate as necessary for all of Europe.
According to the EU Commission, Omikron could become the dominant variant in Europe by mid-January. “It’s a race against time,” warned Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. So far, around 67 percent of the total population of Europe are fully vaccinated. However, in three countries – Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia – the vaccination rate is below 50 percent.
Some countries like Ireland, Portugal, Italy and Greece have tightened their entry rules because of the Omikron variant. Vaccinated persons there also have to present a negative corona test on arrival. France also announced a tightening of its travel restrictions on Thursday. According to government information, unnecessary trips to or from Great Britain will be prohibited from Saturday.
The highly contagious variant of omicron has now spread widely in the UK. On Thursday, the British authorities recorded a peak in new corona infections with 88,376 cases for the second day in a row.
Source From: Stern
