No, 1,026,871 people have not been vaccinated against Covid-19 since the end of December.
Yet this is what is indicated in the daily press release from the Ministry of Health received Sunday evening, as well as on the data.gouv.fr site.
"The data set contains the cumulative number of people vaccinated at the national and regional level", we can read there.
In reality, "the number of people vaccinated corresponds to the number of injections," the Directorate General of Health (DGS) told the Parisian this Monday morning.
Questioned for the first time at the end of last week, the health authorities had initially indicated that it was the number of people who received at least one injection.
"A few hundred" second injections
However, the administration of the second dose began last week.
For the moment, only “a few hundred” people have received it, assures the DGS without further details.
Jean Castex was therefore a priori correct by first announcing, Saturday afternoon, “one million” people vaccinated (in reality, 1,008,720 doses injected on Saturday evening).
These patients, including Mauricette, were bitten for the first time in late December or early January.
They then received their second dose of Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine last week.
1 million French people vaccinated.
pic.twitter.com/domYssnqcj
- Jean Castex (@JeanCASTEX) January 23, 2021
The difference between “people vaccinated” and “doses administered” is therefore small, but it should increase over the next few days with the second injections.
If the High Health Authority recommended this Saturday to extend the gap between the two doses to six weeks, the ministry indicated last week that it was still 21 days in nursing homes and in long-term care units.
However, it is in these places that the first vaccinations were carried out from the end of December.
"The number of second injections will accelerate during the week" and "this distinction will very soon be visible in the data", promises the DGS.
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In its communication on Saturday evening, the Ministry of Health alternated between the two definitions.
We could read “963,139 doses administered” on January 22 on an infographic, while the press release of January 22 and the data.gouv.fr site mentioned “963,139 people vaccinated”.
# COVID19 |
In accordance with the commitment of the minister @OlivierVeran, national, regional and departmental data on the deployment of #vaccination in France are now made public 👇
- Ministry of Solidarity and Health (@Sante_Gouv) January 23, 2021
Many physicians believe it is improper to speak of "vaccinated persons" after a single injection anyway.
As the High Authority for Health itself recalled, "the administration of a second dose for the two Arnim vaccines currently available [including that of Pfizer / BioNTech] remains essential for long-term protection".
