EU leaders have said that vaccinations and booster shots would be vital to counter the Omicron coronavirus variant as countries stepped up restrictions to slow its startling spread.
The EU summit they were participating in also emphasised the need for "coordinated efforts" based on science, amid go-it-alone measures applied notably by Italy.
The joint conclusion, swiftly adopted at the beginning of the one-day gathering, underlined the urgency Omicron has injected into European policy-making just three weeks after South African researchers detected the strain. "It is spreading at the ferocious pace and potentially has a risk of escaping our vaccines, at least partially," said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the end of the