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Coronavirus
Six EU states overtake UK Covid vaccination rates as
Britain’s rollout slows

Jon Henley Europe correspondent

@jonhenley
Fri 6 Aug 2021 14.30 BST

Six EU states have now fully inoculated a larger share of their total populations with
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the UK, after the bloc’s dire initial rollout took off while
Britain’s impressive early jab rate has slumped.
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who are fully vaccinated.
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While Britain’s hugely successful campaign was bound to slow first as it ran into
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harder-to-reach, more vaccine-hesitant groups, the rate of decline is dramatic: the
UK is currently administering a fraction of the daily doses of some EU states.

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 Six EU countries now have higher double vaccination
levels than the UK

Share of total population vaccinated Fully Partly

0% 20 40 60 80

Malta

Belgium

Spain

Portugal

Denmark

Ireland

UK

Italy

Netherlands

On Wednesday, France administered 368,596 first doses and 261,695 second doses,
for example, while the UK’s totals were 33,304 and 165,669 respectively.

The 27-member EU, whose campaign was dogged by repeated early stumbles,
delays and shortages, is getting shots into arms faster than most developed
countries, while also adopting tough tactics to keep take-up rates high.

The data will put pressure on Boris Johnson’s government to reboot a programme
that began as one of the world’s fastest but is now flagging, with 57.3% of the
population fully jabbed and 69% partly vaccinated.
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Vaccination rates are rising only very slowly in every age group in the UK, but low
take-up in the 18 to 29 cohort – due mainly to a perception that young people are not
In these extraordinary times, millions rely on the Guardian for high-impact,
at risk – is marked and has alarmed ministers. Among the 18- to 30-year-olds, an
independent journalism that stands for truth and integrity. With no shareholders or
estimated
billionaire 33% we
owner, arereport
yet toon
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world first shot.
with accuracy, free from political and
commercial influence. And unlike many others, we’re committed to keeping our
According to the figures, Malta had fully vaccinated 88% of its total population by 4
reporting open for all readers. Every contribution, however big or small, makes a
August, with
difference. 91%the
Support having hadfrom
Guardian at least oneas
as little dose. Belgium
$1. Thank you.is on 61% fully jabbed and
70% partially; Spain on 60% and 70%; Portugal on 59% and 70%; Denmark on 58%
and 73%; the
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Ireland on 57.4% and 68%.

The gap appears likely to widen further since several EU states – while their rollouts
have also slowed since June – are still administering both first and second doses
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significantly September
faster than the UK, whose first-dose rate in particular has plummeted.
 The Netherlands is already ahead of the UK on first doses; while others, including
France, are on course, on current trends, to overtake Britain on second doses
shortly. According to Our World In Data, the EU27’s rolling seven-day average of
daily doses per 100 people is currently 0.56 shots, almost double the UK’s rate of
0.28.

Some EU states are vaccinating faster than the bloc’s average, and many times faster
than the UK: Denmark, for example, is managing a rolling seven-day average of 0.97
daily doses per 100 people; France 0.82; Belgium 0.80; Portugal and Ireland 0.77;
Spain 0.73 and Italy 0.72.

The UK’s vaccine programme has slowed in the past three

months

Share of population Malta

fully vaccinated

80%

Belgium
60
Spain
UK

EU

France

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Portugal
40
Denmark
In these extraordinary times, millions rely on the GuardianIrelandfor high-impact,
independent journalism that stands for truth and integrity.Italy With no shareholders or
billionaire owner, we report on world events with accuracy, free from political and
Netherlands
commercial influence. And unlike many others, we’re committed
Germany to keeping our
reporting open for all readers. Every contribution, however big or small, makes a
difference. Support the
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similar fromof
to that asthe
little as $1.
UK, Thankmakes
France you. an interesting point of

comparison. According to the VaccinTracker website, which uses government data,

Support
France the
has soGuardian
far administered 43.3m first and 36.1m second injections.

That means 65.1% of the French population has had at least one dose and 54.3% are
fully vaccinated
Remind (a slightly higher percentage than Our World In Data’s, because
me in September
 France considers people who have recovered from Covid fully vaccinated after one
dose).

Both figures remain lower than the British equivalents of 69% and 57%, respectively
– but France is administering first doses at nearly 10 times the rate of Britain and
second doses at nearly double the rate.

With the rapid spread of the Delta variant adding a new urgency to its slowing
vaccine drives, France is one of several EU countries to have adopted the kind of
coercive tactics aimed at boosting take-up among vaccine-shy groups, including
young people, that Britain’s government has so far appeared reluctant to consider,
although there may be restrictions on nightclub entry from September.

President Emmanuel Macron last month unveiled plans for a “health pass”, with
proof of vaccination or a negative test required for access to public events and
venues such as cinemas and museums.

From Monday, the pass will also be needed by adults to visit cafes and restaurants or
take a long-distance train – a measure that will be extended to 12- to 17-year-olds in
September. Unvaccinated secondary school students will also have to go home if a
Covid-19 case is diagnosed in their class, while vaccinated pupils can stay at school.

While the French government’s strategy has sparked occasionally violent protest,
drawing about 200,000 on to the streets across the country last Saturday, opinion
polls show it enjoys broad majority support.

Most importantly, since the announcement of the health pass, France’s daily
vaccination rate has nearly doubled, with almost 8 million people getting their first
shot in the past six weeks. A further 7m appointments are booked for August.

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In these extraordinary times, millions rely on the Guardian for high-impact,

independent journalism that stands for truth and integrity. With no shareholders or
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 Current vaccination rates in the UK are less than half
those in France and Spain

Daily doses per 100 people, rolling 7-day average

1.5

1.0
Denmark

France

Belgium

Spain

Malta
0.5

Denmark, Italy, Greece and, most recently, Germany have all adopted or mooted
similar tough incentives to get vaccinated, while multiple EU countries have also
boosted take-up by opening up their vaccination offer to all over-12s – some since
mid-June.

France, Spain and Italy all recently reported first-dose vaccination rates of up to
40% in the 12- to 17-year-old age group. Britain, by contrast, said only on
Wednesday that it would soon start extending its vaccine offer to the over-16s.

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countries for high-impact
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the UAE, Singapore, Bahrain, Uruguay, Chile and
Canada are faring better, in terms of the percentage of their populations to have
Inreceived
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at least onetimes,
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than the on and
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states except Malta.
independent journalism that stands for truth and integrity. With no shareholders or
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billionaire owner, we big stick
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from political age limit for
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vaccinations, followAnd unlike manyfirst
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campaign, a rapid
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uptick as supply improved from April, and then a steady decline since June.
difference. Support the Guardian from as little as $1. Thank you.
In March, as the UK’s vaccine rollout powered ahead, the World Health Organization
Support the
compared Guardian
it unfavourable with Europe’s, which it criticised as “unacceptably slow”.

After opting not to compete with each other but buy as a bloc, the 27 first agreed
that the European Commission – with no experience whatsoever of such a vast
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public health procurement effort – should take charge of their collective order.
 The commission took time, however, to secure a mandate from all members, and
more time over lengthy negotiations with vaccine manufacturers. Then the EU
regulator, the European Medicines Agency, took time to approve the vaccines.

Next, AstraZeneca, from whom the bloc had ordered 300m doses for the first two
quarters of 2021, failed to deliver more than a fraction of them, and rare blood
clotting problems led several countries to suspend the shot’s use, denting public
confidence.

Since then, however – thanks mainly to the arrival of a huge supply of

Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines in April – the EU’s vaccination drive has raced back. “The
catch-up process has been very successful,” the commission president, Ursula von
der Leyen, said last week.

Success, however, is far from even across the bloc: poorer member states such as
Romania and Bulgaria, with less well-endowed public health services than wealthier
neighbours such as Germany and the Netherlands, are struggling, with barely 26%
and 15% of their populations vaccinated with at least one dose.

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