The response of Europeans to vaccination campaigns against COVID-19 remains particularly low, according to a new report by the European Centre for Infection Prevention and Control (ECDC), which reflects vaccination coverage in the European Union and the European Economic Area for the period from 1 August 2025 to 27 March 2026.
Evidence shows that citizens' response to national campaigns was limited even in the age groups most at risk of severe disease.
Specifically, only 19 out of 30 countries submitted data to the ECDC, while the median vaccination coverage stood at 6.4% for people aged 60 and over and 11.4% for citizens aged 80 and over, with large differences between Member States.
Cyprus, according to the European Center, records one of the lowest vaccination rates among the countries that submitted data to the ECDC.
Specifically, only 0.7% of people aged 60-69, 1.7% of people aged 70-79 and only 2.3% of citizens aged 80 and over were vaccinated. At the same time, no data were submitted on the vaccination coverage of health professionals, people with chronic diseases or pregnant women.
At the European level, around 13.9 million citizens over the age of 60 received one dose of vaccine during the reporting period, of which 4.6 million were over the age of 80.
However, only one country managed to vaccinate more than 50% of the population aged 60 and over, while only six countries exceeded the corresponding rate among citizens aged over 80.
The ECDC points out in its report, however, that the data should be interpreted with caution, as there are differences in the way data are recorded between countries and vaccination campaigns were still ongoing at the time of data collection.
Despite these reservations, of course, the European Center notes that participation in vaccination against COVID-19 remains low at the European level.
