Rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in Europe is "unacceptably slow" : WHO

The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in Europe is "unacceptably slow" as the number of new cases over the region increased for the sixth consecutive week, the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s European office warned on Thursday.

According to the UN agency, more than 1.6 million souls caught COVID-19 in WHO Europe's 51 nations last week — the sixth weekly rise in a row.

"Only five weeks ago, the weekly number of new cases in Europe had dipped to under one million, but now the region's situation is more worrying than we have seen in several months," Dr Dorit Nitzan, Regional Emergency Director for Who Europe, stressed in a statement.

The increase was observed in every age organisation, except in people 80 years or older which WHO Europe said reflects "early signs of the impact of vaccination."

Data from the UK show that the lives of at least 6,000 people over 70 have been spared since the country launched its vaccination campaign in early December.

"Vaccines do our best way out of this pandemic. Not only do they work, they are also highly efficient in stopping infection. Still, the roll-out of these vaccines is unacceptably slow," WHO Europe chief, Dr. Hans Kluge, said.

"And as long as coverage remains low, we want to apply the same public health and social measures as us have in the past, to compensate for delayed schedules. Let me be clear: we must hurry up the method by ramping up manufacturing, reducing obstacles to managing vaccines, and using every individual vial we have in stock, now," he added.