SHOCKING figures show the slow rate of Covid vaccine uptake in Europe as France sees cases soar among those who’ve not been jabbed.
In Romania – where bodies have been piling up outside morgues as infections soar – just 38 per cent of the population has received a single vaccine dose.
Bottom of Europe’s vaccine uptake table is Bulgaria where just one in four people have had a single jab – compared to 88 per cent in the UK.
All the nations with the lowest vaccine uptake are formerly former Communist countries of Eastern Europe, where there is a strong distrust of the government.
The continent has seen Covid cases soar and the World Health Organisation has warned the death toll could reach 700,000 this winter.
France has now seen a fifth wave tearing wave tearing through the country at “lightning speed” with the rate of infections up 80 per cent from last week.
The country has a relatively high rate of vaccination and at least 90 per cent of the population has received at least one dose.
But officials have focused on those who’ve not been jabbed, as well as more indoor socialising and the virulent Delta strain, as the source of the current wave.
Intensive care admissions are up by 26 per cent and the vast majority being unvaccinated patients.
“There are nine times more critical care admissions and deaths among the unvaccinated than among the vaccinated,” government spokesman Gabriel Attal said.
France’s national Scientific Council called on the government to “reinforce first-vaccination efforts, as unvaccinated people are ten times more likely to need hospitalisation and intensive care”.
The country is almost certain to keep its health pass showing people have been double vaccinated to enter restaurants, cafés and other venues.
Attal said the French government continues to stand by the decision to “bring the weight of restrictions to bear on non-vaccinated people rather than vaccinated people”.
Other countries in Europe where there has been a slow vaccine uptake are also trying get their populations jabbed.
DEATH TOLL FEARS
The most extreme measures have been announced by Austria, which has has said it will bring in mandatory vaccination,
The Czech Republic is to roll out vaccine passports, which will be needed go to bars, restaurants, hairdressers, museums and use hotels.
Greece – where two thirds of the population have received a single dose – has said the unvaccinated won’t be able to enter bars, restaurants, theatres and gyms.
Research by the WHO suggests that between now and March 1 there will be extreme stress on hospital beds in 25 countries.
And there could be extreme or high stress in IC units in a horrifying 49 out of 53 countries, the UN’s global health body warned.
It come as the boss of AstraZeneca has said Europe is battling a new Covid outbreak because it shunned the company’s jab.
Pascal Soriot said the company’s vaccine gives deeper, longer-lasting protection than those by Pfizer and Moderna.
EU leaders last year launched a campaign of misinformation about the safety of the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab — and handed out tens of millions of Pfizer vaccines instead.
But now infection rates are soaring on the Continent and some countries’ intensive care figures are more than triple that of the UK.
