The coronavirus pandemic broke out in early 2020. To date, 4.51 million people have died and 217 million cases have been registered in the world, with the United States, India, Brazil, Russia and the United Kingdom being the most affected countries. Although vaccination is progressing at a good pace in developed countries, according to data from the World Health Organization, the number of deaths from Covid-19 has increased by 11% in the last week in Europe . In addition, the WHO has made an estimate of how many people will die from coronavirus in the next three months.
Coronavirus: outlook in Europe
The figures, far from being optimistic, show a reality that we believed we had left behind: in Europe alone 236,000 people will die from Covid-19 in the following quarter . According to the World Health Organization, the epidemiological situation in Europe is “heterogeneous”. Experts are concerned about the low vaccination rate in priority population groups in some countries and the high transmission of new variants of the virus.
According to data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control , there are several European countries that have lagged behind in the vaccination campaign. Specifically, there are six that today the percentage of the population with the complete guideline is less than 50%:
- Slovenia – 49.8%
- Slovakia – 49%
- Croatia – 46.9%
- Latvia – 45.5%
- Romania – 31.9%
- Bulgaria – 20%
Third dose of the vaccine?
There is a great debate about whether or not a third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine is necessary . Developed countries are already preparing to administer it to their populations. Some, like Israel or the US, want everyone to receive the third dose, while others, like France or Germany, only believe that it is necessary for the elderly or immunosuppressed.
However, there are experts who consider that, before administering the third dose, it would be necessary to advance the vaccination campaign in disadvantaged countries . Based on data from Our World in Data from the University of Oxford, in Africa only 4% of the population is immunized. Taking Haiti as an example, the percentage of the population that has received the full guideline barely reaches 1%.
Amós José García Rojas, president of the Spanish Association of Vaccination , has spoken with ‘NIUS’ and has explained that it is an epidemiological problem since if there continue to be countries that cannot vaccinate their population, the virus will continue to circulate, thus giving rise to new variants.
