What vaccine strategy against Covid-19?
Jean Castex detailed this Wednesday the executive's plan to the National Assembly.
The vaccination campaign in France could start "as early as the last week of December", declared the Prime Minister.
And to specify that the non-priority populations will wait for “the end of spring”.
Jean Castex conditioned the start of the campaign on the marketing authorization of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) "expected for December 21" and on an opinion of the High Authority of Health issued " in the wake ”.
"The security of vaccine supplies is guaranteed", he promised, congratulating the work of the "European task force", which "has made it possible to obtain 200 million doses allowing the vaccination of 100 million people".
"We will be delivered as and when the marketing authorizations for vaccines are granted," the Prime Minister recalled.
"Rise in power" in January
The "first phase will be spread over a period of six to eight weeks, to take into account the 21-day period between the first vaccination and the booster", specified the Prime Minister.
"The oldest people in establishments such as nursing homes" will be vaccinated as a priority.
This will affect “around 1 million people”.
"From January", the vaccination campaign "will gain momentum," said Jean Castex.
In a second phase will be vaccinated "nearly 14 million people presenting a risk factor related to age or a chronic pathology" as well as "certain health professionals".
The rest of the population will be targeted only in a "third step", "at the end of spring".
A slight slippage when the Prime Minister had indicated two weeks ago wanting to initiate this phase "from the spring".
Strengthen the resources allocated to tracing cases
Insisting on "trust" and "transparency", Castex announced "that a medical consultation will be offered before the act of vaccination and that it must be organized under medical supervision".
"No vaccination will take place without informed consent having been expressed", pleaded the Prime Minister.
He also stressed that "the start of the vaccination campaign will not mark the end of the epidemic".
And that as such, the testing campaigns and the incentives for isolation will continue in the coming months.
Morning essentials newsletter
A tour of the news to start the day
Subscribe to the newsletterAll newsletters
In this context, Castex indicated that France currently has a "screening capacity of up to three million tests per week".
"We will further strengthen the resources allocated to tracing cases, by allowing the additional recruitment of 4,000" full-time jobs for Health Insurance, he added.