EU needs more than 70% vaccination coverage to stop variants, warns Belgian virologist

The European Union needs a vaccination coverage higher than 70% of adult population to stop the spread of new and highly transmissible COVID-19 variants, says Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst, warning the virus can 'happily circulate' among the unvaccinated. 'We have to reach a vaccination level that is higher than 70%, that is clear,' Ranst told Euronews. 'Against the original variant, the one that came from Wuhan, probably 70% would cut it. But then the British variant came, and then the Indian variant came, and they were much more infectious, which means you need a higher vaccination coverage to sort of counter this.'