With more than 75 percent of EU adults vaccinated against Covid-19, the conversation is increasingly turning to the low rate of vaccination in low-income countries. After the US recently called on World Trade Organization members to temporarily lift intellectual property rights on Covid-19 vaccines, the European Commissioner for Health Stella Kyriakides told FRANCE 24: "All options are on the table – but the European Union has never put an export ban on the vaccines, and we encourage all the partners that are producing vaccines to continue as we have from day one, and to share vaccines with the rest of the world."
The Commissioner also discussed the reasons behind the drastically lower rates of vaccination in certain EU member states – such as Bulgaria, which is below 30 percent, and Romania, which has vaccinated just over 30 percent of its population.
Commissioner Kyriakides pointed to "different realities on the ground" in different countries and added: "There is no 'one size fits all' solution... Ultimately we need to convince the citizens that they need to be vaccinated, that they need to protect themselves and others."
Produced by Perrine Desplats, Isabelle Romero, Georgina Robertson and Céline Schmitt
