As the European Union (EU) announced on Tuesday that 70% of its adults had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, it recommended reimposing restrictions on travellers from the US, Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.

On 8 June, the six were included on an EU Council list of “safe countries” identified for the relaxing of non-essential travel restrictions. But rising COVID-19 cases in these countries – alongside the US failure to lift its travel restrictions on EU citizens – were behind their removal, which was announced in a press release on Monday.

The EU Council recommendation is not binding on member states, who can determine what restrictions to impose.

The EU also recommended the gradual lifting of restrictions on a number of new countries including Canada, Japan, South Korea and the Ukraine  – as well as China, “subject to confirmation of reciprocity”.

In early August, EU Commission president Ursula von den Leyen appealed to the US to lift its ban on travellers from Schengen states – virtually the entire EU – who have to quarantine in a third country for 14 days before being allowed into the US.

In the US, 63% of adults are fully vaccinated and COVID-19 cases continue to rise amid a politicised battle over vaccines and masks, with Republican Party supporters markedly less likely to be vaccinated than Democrats. 

Welcoming the fact that 70% of adults were vaccinated, Von den Leyen said that more needed to be done to assist other countries to vaccinate citizens.

“The EU is already doing a lot. We are exporting, donating vaccines to our partners and we are the lead contributor to COVAX but more needs to be done. We will only end this pandemic if we defeat it in every corner of the globe,” said Von der Leyen.

70% of adults in EU are fully vaccinated.

I want to thank the many people making this great achievement possible.

But we must go further!

We need more Europeans to vaccinate. And we need to help the rest of the world vaccinate, too.

We'll continue supporting our partners. pic.twitter.com/VxdvZlrwYv

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) August 31, 2021

However, there are substantial differences between member states. Only 20% of Bulgarian and 32% of Romanian adults are fully vaccinated. In contrast, Malta has vaccinated 90% of its population and Portugal, 83,5%, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDPC).

Image Credits: Twitter – Ursula von der Leyen.