At the start of the vaccination against Covid-19 in France on Sunday, December 27, the government justified its decision to go slowly.
Gear change in the middle of last week.
"The acceleration is already underway", even exclaimed the spokesman of the government, Gabriel Attal, this Sunday in Le Parisien.
Thursday evening, during his New Year's greetings, Emmanuel Macron had assured that he will not "let unjustified slowness take hold".
The Head of State was reacting to the controversy over the significant delay that France was taking compared to several of its neighbors.
A few hours earlier, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran had himself assured that the vaccination campaign would "soon gain momentum".
At the beginning of December, a three-phase calendar was announced by the government, after the publication of the opinion of the High Authority for Health.
Here is the new schedule, based on announcements and details provided by the executive.
Slow-motion beginnings
Since Mauricette on Sunday, December 27, only a few hundred people have received a first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the only one available to date.
The counter had risen to 516 on Friday, January 1, according to the latest figures sent by the Ministry of Health to Paris.
At the same time, Germany has passed the 200,000 mark.
This first phase concerns residents in nursing homes and care establishments for the elderly and vulnerable, as well as healthcare professionals with comorbidities and who take care of them.
It should last until the end of January with the aim of administering at least one dose to all those who want it among the million people concerned.
The executive explains the long delays by practical constraints and by obtaining consent, in particular.
But the pace should accelerate in the coming days since Gabriel Attal announced a "strengthening of the means to get vaccines to nursing homes".
"There will be a transparent, continuous publication" of data related to vaccination from Monday, he also indicated.
A two-month advanced phase 2
Initially, the second phase of the vaccination was to start "from the end of February-beginning of March 2021", as indicated on the Health Insurance website.
It has finally been well advanced and will take place in two stages.
On the one hand, health professionals at least 50 years old or with risk factors will be able to be vaccinated as of Monday.
It even started on Friday at the Public Assistance - Hospitals of Paris (AP-HP).
This weekend, several liberal doctors, starting with the president of the National Council of the Order of Physicians, were also vaccinated in the Paris region.
I asked hospitals to immediately open vaccination to liberal health professionals> 50 years old.
The President of the National Council of the Order of Physicians did so today at the Hôtel-Dieu (Paris).
Next week, in nearly 100 centers across the country.
pic.twitter.com/zeaXatLq4j
- Olivier Véran (@olivierveran) January 2, 2021
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They still have to go to an establishment that has the necessary staff and equipment.
Next week, "nearly 100 centers across the country" will be accessible, guaranteed Olivier Véran.
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"It's a very good thing that the schedule is accelerated because health professionals are particularly exposed, and it would be strange for an average person to be vaccinated by a doctor who has not yet been vaccinated", approves Michaël Rochoy , general practitioner in Outreau (Pas-de-Calais).
The second part of this phase 2 as it was initially planned will begin "before the beginning of February", announced the Minister of Health on December 31.
It will concern those over 75 and then over 65.
The injections will take place this time in city vaccination centers… which remain to be developed.
"Consultations will begin, in particular within the framework of the territorial vaccination units, under the guidance of the regional health agencies (ARS)", indicated Friday Maxime Gignon, head of the prevention and epidemiology pole at the University Hospital of Amiens.
How many French people vaccinated by the summer?
There remains the last phase, which will potentially concern most people.
The entire adult population will then be invited to be vaccinated, starting with 50-64 year olds and professionals in sectors essential to the functioning of the country.
It is due to start in the spring, and no changes to the schedule have been announced yet.
"It is too early to decide if necessary", indicates a government source.
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In the end, the authorities are counting on a minimum of 15 or 20 million French people vaccinated, that is to say having received the two planned doses, by the middle of next year.
"The goal is to be able to vaccinate 26 million French people by the summer", even indicated the Secretary of State for Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, this Sunday noon on BFMTV.
However, this would be a theoretical possibility rather than an objective per se.
Because France actually hopes to vaccinate up to 27 million French people by the summer, but on condition that the other products (Moderna, AstraZeneca / Oxford, CureVac, etc.) are quickly available.
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But for AstraZeneca / Oxford, which is particularly anticipated, the schedule is behind schedule.
The European Medicines Agency has requested additional data from the manufacturer and the vaccine, which will be used as of Monday in the United Kingdom, should not be validated before February at the earliest in the European Union.