European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said 70 per cent of adults in the European Union (EU) were now fully vaccinated against Covid-19, hitting an end-of-summer target the bloc set for itself in January, AFP reports.

“Today we reached an important milestone in our vaccination campaign. Seventy per cent of adults in the EU are now fully vaccinated and that means 250 million people are fully immunised,” Von der Leyen said in a video posted online.

Von der Leyen heads the European Commission, which is responsible for ordering vaccines for the EU's 27 member states, and had already announced in July that 70pc of the adult population of the EU had received at least one dose.