EXCERPT:
VON DER LEYEN: "We have the vaccines, the life-saving vaccines, but they are not being used adequately everywhere, and thus this costs, of course, an enormous, or this is an enormous health cost coming along. If you look at the numbers, we have now 77 percent of the adults in the European Union vaccinated, or if you take the whole population, it's 66 percent, and this means one third of the European population is not vaccinated. These are 150 million people. This is a lot. And not each and every one can be vaccinated. So, there are very small children, for example, or people with special medical conditions, but the vast majority could. And therefore, I think it is understandable and appropriate to lead this discussion now how we can encourage and potentially think about mandatory vaccination within the European Union. This needs discussion. This needs a common approach, but it is a discussion that I think has to be led."