Europe is scrambling to regain control over a resurgent COVID as Christmas approaches, even in countries with high vaccination rates.
Despite generally high rates of vaccination:
COVID cases across Europe have surged to record highs:
With even highly vaccinated nations like Belgium, Netherland and Ireland experiencing an explosion of cases:
The data on hospitalisations is better; although these admittedly lag cases by weeks. Hospitalisations across most European nations are running well below prior weeks:
This suggests that while vaccination doesn’t stop transmission, it does reduce the severity of illness.
For this reason, European nations are moving towards mandatory vaccination and booster shots, alongside tightening restrictions and lockdowns, which is sparking civil unrest in some countries.
It will be interesting watching how the situation plays out over the northern hemisphere winter.
