Around 19.4 million people aged 60 or older in European countries have received a vaccine dose against COVID-19 since September 2023, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said on Friday.
The ECDC has stressed the urgency of revaccinating the elderly against COVID-19. Approximately 5.5 million of the vaccine doses were given to people aged 80 or over during the period from Sept. 1, 2023 to Jan. 15, 2024, the ECDC said.
Vaccination efforts should continue to focus on protecting people at risk of progression to severe disease, for example, people aged over 60 years, other vulnerable individuals irrespective of age, and pregnant women, the ECDC said in a press release.
Healthcare workers should also be considered as a priority group for COVID-19 revaccination, the ECDC added.
The median COVID-19 vaccination coverage among those aged 60 and over was 11.1 percent, with high variation among countries, the ECDC reported.
In three of the 24 reporting countries, coverage was above 50 percent in this age group.
Among those aged 80 and older, the median coverage for vaccination was 16.3 percent, with eight of the 24 countries reporting coverage above 50 percent. Meanwhile, one country had coverage above 80 percent in this age group: Denmark with 88.2 percent.
