The arrival of AstraZeneca will speed up the French vaccination strategy against Covid-19.
This product will only be recommended for those under 65, starting with people aged between 50 and 65, the High Health Authority said on Tuesday.
The government took advantage of the weekly press conference on Thursday to detail what will change for the calendar.
"This vaccine will be used to first vaccinate all health professionals," said Jean Castex, specifying that the AstraZeneca product should be administered from Saturday.
Thanks to this vaccine produced, the Prime Minister plans to reach 4 million people who have received their first injection by the end of February.
"Between 3.5 and 4 million", said shortly after the Minister of Health Olivier Véran.
Until then, the government's forecasts were more on 2.5 million (1.5 million in January and one million in February).
End of the first doses in nursing homes at the end of the week
For the time being, according to figures released Wednesday evening, more than 1.6 million people have received at least one injection against Covid-19 and only 140,000 of them have received their two doses.
"By April, we will reach the goal of having offered vaccination to all volunteers over 75 years of age as well as to people under 75 years of age with serious comorbidities," said Jean Castex.
In nursing homes, according to the Prime Minister, all voluntary residents will have received at least one dose at the end of the week, then their two doses by the beginning of March.
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The Minister for Industry, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, for her part indicated that "the European Commission continues to study all vaccine candidates".
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health announced that it was already betting on around 80 million doses received at the end of June, subject to the six laboratories obtaining their marketing authorization.
The shares of AstraZeneca and CureVac (not yet marketed) nevertheless decreased compared to initial forecasts, while that of Pfizer / BioNTech increased.
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As announced, three French sites will produce Moderna, Pfizer / BioNTech and CureVac vaccines from March, April or May.