Booster shots could reduce future hospitalisations in Europe by at least half a million, the European Union's public health agency said, even as the Omicron variant spreads at an unprecedented pace.

“The current uptake of a booster dose achieved by early January may reduce future Omicron hospital admissions by 500,000 - 800,000” in Europe, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said.

Currently, about 70 per cent of the EU's population of 450 million has been fully vaccinated and half of them have received a booster, Reuters reports.