European Commissioner Asks to Maintain Masks and Social Distancing

THE European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides, warned on Tuesday, June 15, that Europe “is not yet out of danger” in relation to the pandemic and asked “not to relax” or stop using masks and social distancing. She stated that “it is not the time to throw away the masks, leave the hand sanitisers at home or stop complying with social distancing.”

“There are reasons for optimism, but not for complacency,” Kyriakides warned, in her speech at the Health Council, which brings together all the European Union Ministers of Health today in Luxembourg. The commissioner insisted that the objective is to immunise 70 per cent of those vaccinated by the end of July, but stressed that, even when this goal is reached, “it will not be the moment to declare victory.” She continued, “The threat of existing and new variants, possibly more transmissible and gradually more resistant to vaccines, remains very real and serious,” she warned, just before stating that the “main challenge of the future” is to counteract such variations.

As reported by Andalucia Informacion, the Cypriot policy called for the EU’s autumn and winter strategy to focus on speeding up vaccination, increasing confidence in vaccines and minimizing the spread of variants. “Vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate: that should be our mantra,” Kyriakides said. The goal of increasing trust, she explained, will come largely from the work of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on vaccine safety, as well as the way in which the Member States ensure that such work is communicated to citizens. “As we advance in the vaccination of our population we will find ourselves with a glass ceiling of resistance, doubts and questions,” warned the head of Health. She added that the EU and the 27 must be “prepared to address doubts at the individual and local level.”