Tuesday
21st Sep 2021
In order to download the green Covid pass, Italy's online national health system requires users to key in their national health card code. As such, migrants might be vaccinated, but they are unable to prove it.
With a surge in new Covid-19 cases and the second-lowest vaccination-rate in the EU, Romania's current political mess could not come at a worse time.
The European Medicines Agency said that there is no urgent need to administer booster shots to the general population, pointing out that the priority now should be to vaccinate the one-third of Europeans who are not fully vaccinated.
Administrative barriers in at least 10 European countries are blocking access to Covid-19 vaccines for nearly four million undocumented migrants. Countries including Germany, Spain, Norway and Bulgaria require some form of ID, health card or a residency permit.
Romanian authorities are hoping meal vouchers worth 100 RON (€20) and the opportunity to enter a lottery with cash prizes for those vaccinated against Covid-19 will convince more people to get the jab
The reports showed that 22 percent of respondents say they still feel free in their everyday life now - compared to 64 percent who say they felt free two years ago, before the pandemic hit.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen praised the EU's vaccination roll-out as a success and announced that the EUn will donate 200 million additional doses to low-income countries - doubling its current pledge.
Belgrade has been generous, but there are also other reasons at play. The first one is the keystone of Serbian foreign policy: Kosovo. The countries receiving Serbian generosity have been the ones that did not recognise an independent Kosovo.
Around 70 percent of adults in the EU are now fully-vaccinated against Covid. But some member states - like Bulgaria and Romania - are falling behind, for a mix of reasons.
The World Health Organisation and Unicef have called on European countries to keep schools open despite the pandemic, by making teachers a target for vaccination programmes and implementing new anti-infection measures.
The EU has started paying Italy billions in pandemic aid. It is Europe's biggest beneficiary and could see a major GDP bump, but only if the money is well spent.
Counterfeiters face prison sentences of up to five years and fines of up to €150,000. Those who use fake health passes could spend three years behind bars.
While Covid-19 vaccines are readily and freely available in Romania, some refuse the jabs and pay for fake vaccination certificates instead in order to get the EU Digital Covid Certificate.
Big data and evidence-based decision-making provide immense opportunities to improve health and well-being and prepare for the next crisis, if this force is applied for the good.
The World Health Organization urged rich countries to halt Covid-19 vaccines boosters to enable every country in the world to vaccinate at least 10 percent of its population by the end of September.
Europe's least-vaccinated countries are in no short supply of Covid-19 jabs - and yet Romania and Bulgaria are both looking for opportunities to sell or donate their excess vaccines which they are not able to administer to their own population.
Europe has reported a decrease in weekly infections of Covid-19 - after more than a month of increases in cases driven by the more-contagious Delta variant.
The US remains closed to tourists from the EU and the UK - a situation that has prompted frustration and urgent calls for the reopening of international travel to vaccinated individuals by industry and countries.
The European Union has vaccinated 70 percent of its adult population with one shot. "The EU has kept its word and delivered," said EU Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen. However, only 57 percent of adult Europeans are fully-vaccinated.
The US decided not to lift travel restrictions for visiting EU nationals, given the spike in Covid-19 infections.
The surge of Covid-19 cases due to the spread of the more contagious Delta variant has prompted a debate in Germany over whether people who have not yet been vaccinated should face restrictions - after other countries made similar moves.
Europe continues to be one of the most-affected regions in the world by the surge of Covid-19 cases - driven by the spread of the more contagious Delta variant and relaxation of measures.
The spread of the more contagious Delta variant has prompted authorities in member states to accelerate inoculation campaigns, and even make vaccination mandatory - in a bid to halt the new surge of cases and avoid lockdowns in the autumn.
If we are to prevent the pandemic from having a life-long impact on an entire generation of children and young people - especially the most marginalised - we must ensure that schools reopen and stay open safely.
In the countries worst hit by Covid-19, hydrogen and renewable gases are set to receive more money than much-needed intensive care units and new medical equipment (Italy) or the entire national health system (Spain).
The report's findings are particularly worrying as member states are preparing to roll-out billions of euros for a post-pandemic recovery. The European Commission is approving national plans for the spending of around €800bn by member states from now until 2026.
A Brussels court ordered AstraZeneca to deliver 50 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to EU member states by September in a legal case brought by the European Commission - with both sides claiming victory.
When asked how the EU handled the vaccination strategy among different institutions, respondents in Malta and Portugal tend to be most satisfied, while in France and Germany respondents are the least satisfied with the EU.
"Now I can go to the bank?," asked Portuguese prime minister António Costa to EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, as the EU executive approved his country's national Covid-19 recovery plan.
The EU does not expect US pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson to meet its goal of delivering 55 million Covid-19 vaccines for the second quarter of 2021, due to a manufacturing issue.
A new report from the EU's Fundamental Rights Agency revealed the difficulties people in vulnerable situations face accessing vaccines - from language barriers, to limitations tied to residence, or legal status.
MEPs have backed a motion demanding the temporality lifting of intellectual properties rights of Covid-19 vaccines - a symbolic move that puts pressure on the European Commission to change its position on the issue of global access to vaccines.
The EU's anti-fraud agency has so far identified more than 1,000 of these suspicious companies, many of which are based outside the EU.
