Luxembourg has achieved a vaccination rate of 78.3% among the eligible population, meaning those aged five and over. The real number could be higher as people who were vaccinated abroad aren’t included in this tally.

However, it also means that roughly one in five have yet to complete their vaccination schedule as the government is still mulling introducing a vaccine mandate for over 50s and healthcare sector staff.

In the week from 7 to 13 March, 230 people received a first dose. This was down from 451 the week before, 535 during the week from 21 to 27 February and 931 in mid-February. During the first week of January, 3,924 people received a first injection.

The government in its weekly report or other publicly available data does not break down the vaccination rate by age bracket. The health ministry was not immediately available for comment on which age groups are most or least vaccinated.

Information on active infections, however, shows that 10% of cases were diagnosed among people aged 30 to 39, the single biggest share. This was followed by 9.5% of cases each for the age groups 30 to 34 and 5 to 9 -year-olds.

Luxembourg on 11 March lifted most pandemic restrictions. But Wednesday’s report showed that infections were up 24% last week compared to the week before, with 5.968 cases diagnosed.

Excess mortality down

Seven people--with an average age of 83--died after testing positive last week.

Eurostat this week said that excess mortality across the EU decreased at the start of the year. November last year saw another peak of deaths--the fourth since the start of the pandemic--as deaths across the EU were 26.3% above the average deaths recorded between 2016 and 2019.

In Luxembourg, excess mortality peaked at 45.2% in November 2020 and was at 17.9% one year later, in November 2021. It dropped to 0.9% in January this year.

An expert council that recommended the vaccine mandate said the legislation should be introduced before the summer to ensure that people have received their doses before the next autumn. The covid-19 task force has warned of a pandemic rebound as immunity wanes and cases rise seasonally, in addition to uncertainty of new variants.

The number of people in hospital meanwhile has stabilised significantly. As of Monday, the latest data available at the time of publication, three people were being treated in intensive care and another 29 on a regular ward.