The pace of vaccination against Covid-19 must be quickened across the globe to avert “a pandemic of the non-vaccinated”, Reuters quotes the European Union's chief executive as saying in her annual policy speech.

Announcing a new donation of another 200 million doses by the middle of next year, von der Leyen said she was also worried by variation of vaccination rates among the EU's member states. “The next year will be another test of character,” she said.

At the end of August, 70 per cent of the adult population in the 27-nation EU had been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. By mid April, 100m doses of Covid-19 vaccines had been administered to the EU citizens.