• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • TikTok
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
CDE Almería – Centro de Documentación Europea – Universidad de Almería

CDE Almería - Centro de Documentación Europea - Universidad de Almería

Centro de Documentación Europea de la Universidad de Almería

  • HOME
  • WHAT´S ON
    • EU BULLETINS
    • EU NEWS
    • Activities
    • EU Calls and Awards
    • Radio Program «Europe with You»
  • DOCUMENTATION
    • Bibliographic Collection
      • Almería EDC Digital Collection
      • UNIVERSITY OF ALMERIA LIBRARY
    • Documentation by topic
    • EU Media Collection
      • Web Space
      • MEDIATHEQUE REPOSITORY
  • Europe on the net
    • Institutions
    • EU Representation in Spain
    • European information network of Andalusia
    • EU official journal
  • ABOUT US
    • Presentation
    • People
    • Contact
  • English
  • Spanish

The European Commission considers making COVID-19 vaccine compulsory

Inicio » EU News » Health » Diseases » The European Commission considers making COVID-19 vaccine compulsory

2 de December de 2021

The Commission is today putting forward a common and coordinated EU approach to address effectively the challenges from the resurgence of COVID-19 in many Member States this autumn.

There are rapidly rising case numbers and a renewed pressure on hospitals, which calls for urgent and determined action. The new potential threat from the Omicron variant is adding to these concerns, and underlines the importance of tackling the pandemic to progress towards long-term health security, both in the EU and globally.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, raised the need to put the debate on compulsory vaccination on the table, in view of the new figures of unvaccinated population today (min. 23:00 of the video) and declared: “One third of the European population is not vaccinated: that’s 150 million people. That’s a lot. And not everybody can be vaccinated, there are very young children for example, or people with special medical conditions but the vast majority can. And so I think it is understandable and appropriate to lead this debate now. How can we encourage and think about the possibility of compulsory vaccination within the EU? This needs to be debated, it needs a common approach but it is a debate that needs to happen”.

We are now facing a double challenge in the fight against #COVID19.

The rapid resurgence of Delta across Europe and a new variant of concern: Omicron.

Full vaccination and boosters provide the strongest protection there is. And they are available now. https://t.co/FOuda4Jbvj

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) December 1, 2021

Ursula von der Leyen, also said: “Over the last couple of weeks, many of us have witnessed it first hand: COVID 19 has resurged infecting some of our close friends, co-workers, family members or loved ones. The rapidly increasing case numbers are putting an increasingly heavy strain on our hospitals and health workers. On top the arrival of the presumably highly contiguous omicron variant calls for our utmost attention. But I am convinced that the EU is up to the task to tackle these challenges. Today we are presenting a broad array of actions, from stepping up our vaccination efforts and investment in treatments, to improving monitoring and prevention, and reinforcing our global solidarity. In the meantime I reiterate my urgent call to all of you: get vaccinated, get a booster, and follow the rules to protect yourselves.”

Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, added: “The high transmissibility of the Delta variant, a significantly high immunity gap and the easing of non-pharmaceutical interventions will bring us a challenging winter. The emergence of the Omicron variant only adds to the urgent need to vaccinate and to boost our immunity in order to break transmission chains. Where needed, effective public health measures, including social distancing and masks need to be introduced.  We must act quickly and decisively to limit the spread of the virus and mitigate its impact.”

The surge in cases of severe illness, especially among the unvaccinated, has resulted in an enormous pressure on hospitals and on already stretched healthcare staff. This also has a direct impact on the health of non-COVID patients as once again access to healthcare for other conditions is put under heavy strain by the need to treat COVID-19 patients.

Coordinated action to combat COVID-19

The EU and Member States must demonstrate the capacity to react swiftly in order to address the upsurge in the virus and to maintain the drive for a strong and sustainable long-term response to this threat. This calls for determined and urgent responses, including:

  • The EU and Member States should continue to implement a joint strategy to limit the entry of the Omicron variant into the EU, with regular, daily reviews of essential travel restrictions. The EU and Member States should stand ready to impose all necessary controls;
  • Member States should run renewed campaigns to target unvaccinated people in all eligible age groups, with targeted national strategies to address vaccine hesitancy;
  • Member States should rapidly deploy booster doses to maintain strong levels of protection against the virus including the Omicron variant, starting with the most vulnerable groups;
  • EU agencies should ensure that the necessary scientific guidance is rapidly available;
  • The Commission will step up efforts to produce, authorize and jointly procure COVID-19 therapeutics;
  • The European Parliament and the Council should adopt the European Health Union proposals and the HERA crisis regulation by the end of 2021;
  • Member States should put in place targeted and proportionate precautions and restrictions to limit the spread of the virus, saving lives and reducing the pressure on healthcare systems. Full EU coordination should be assured. The onset of the Omicron variant means that particular attention should be paid to applying and communicating specific measures on contacts during the end-of-year period;
  • Member States should implement the revised approach for free movement with a standard 9-month validity period under the EU Digital COVID certificate;
  • The EU and Member States should accelerate Team Europe efforts on vaccine sharing to achieve the global vaccination target of 70% in 2022 agreed at the G20 summit in October 2021, and support capacity building for sequencing, testing and vaccination. There should also be a clear EU position on the way forward in ensuring a stronger, more equitable and accelerated global health architecture.

The President has asked Professor Peter Piot to be the Commission’s Chief Scientific Advisor for Epidemics, within his existing mandate.

Background

The EU Vaccines Strategy  remains the EU’s primary tool for ending the pandemic by preventing and reducing transmission of cases, as well as hospitalisation rates and deaths caused by the disease. It is complemented by the EU strategy on COVID-19 therapeutics. They form part of a strong European Health Union, using a coordinated EU approach to better protect the health of our citizens, equip the EU and its Member States to better prevent and address future pandemics, and improve resilience of Europe’s health systems.

More information:

European Commission

Publicaciones relacionadas:

Coronavirus Global Response: €7.4 billion raised for universal access to vaccines Commission concludes exploratory talks with Valneva to secure a new potential vaccine Safe travel coordination strengthened in the EU Nearly half a million lives saved by COVID-19 vaccination in less than a year Regulatory flexibility to ensure availability of veterinary medicines during COVID-19

“This is a space for debate. All comments, for or against publication, that are respectful and do not contain expressions that are discriminatory, defamatory or contrary to current legislation will be published”.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Publicaciones relacionadas


Coronavirus Global Response: €7.4 billion raised for universal access to vaccines


Commission concludes exploratory talks with Valneva to secure a new potential vaccine


Safe travel coordination strengthened in the EU


Nearly half a million lives saved by COVID-19 vaccination in less than a year


Regulatory flexibility to ensure availability of veterinary medicines during COVID-19

Footer

Logotipo en negativo del Centro de Documentación Europea de Almería
  • CDE Almería
  • Edificio Parque Científico-Tecnológico (Pita)
  • Planta: 1ª, Despacho: 2904120.
  • Ctra. Sacramento s/n. Almería (Spain)
  • Teléfono: (+34) 950 015266

HOME
NEWS
DOCUMENTATION
EUROPE ON THE NET
ABOUT US

  • LEGAL NOTICE
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • COOKIE POLICY
  • ACCESSIBILITY
  • SITEMAP

Copyright © 2023 CDE Almería · Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

<p>El Centro de Documentación Europea de la Universidad de Almería utiliza cookies propias y de terceros para facilitar al usuario la navegación en su página Web y el acceso a los distintos contenidos alojados en la misma. Asimismo, se utilizan cookies analíticas de terceros para medir la interacción de los usuarios con el sitio Web. Pinche el siguiente enlace si desea información sobre el uso de cookies y como deshabilitarlas. ajustes</p>

Politica de privacidad

El Centro de Documentación Europea de la Universidad de Almería utiliza cookies propias y de terceros para facilitar al usuario la navegación en su página Web y el acceso a los distintos contenidos alojados en la misma. Asimismo, se utilizan cookies analíticas de terceros para medir la interacción de los usuarios con el sitio Web. Pinche el siguiente enlace si desea información sobre el uso de cookies y como deshabilitarlas. <a href="/politica-de-cookies" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Más información</a>

Cookies estrictamente necesarias

Las cookies estrictamente necesarias tiene que activarse siempre para que podamos guardar tus preferencias de ajustes de cookies.

Básicamente la web no funcionara bien si no las activas.

Estas cookies son:

  • Comprobación de inicio de sesión.
  • Cookies de seguridad.
  • Aceptación/rechazo previo de cookies.

Si desactivas esta cookie no podremos guardar tus preferencias. Esto significa que cada vez que visites esta web tendrás que activar o desactivar las cookies de nuevo.

Cookies de terceros

Esta web utiliza Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager y Yandex Metrika para recopilar información anónima tal como el número de visitantes del sitio, o las páginas más populares.

Dejar estas cookies activas nos permite mejorar nuestra web.

¡Por favor, activa primero las cookies estrictamente necesarias para que podamos guardar tus preferencias!

Política de cookies

Pinche el siguiente enlace si desea información sobre el uso de cookies y como deshabilitarlas. Más información