Not only would France not have to be ashamed of its pace of vaccination against Covid, but it would even be among the leading pack in the European Union.
This is, at least, the opinion of Emmanuel Macron, who spoke at a meeting on this subject Tuesday evening.
But does it match reality?
What Macron said
“Things are accelerating.
Last week, we saw 2.5 million doses injected, […] which brings us to 17 million doses administered since the beginning, which places us among the countries which have vaccinated the most of their adult population within of the Union ”, rejoiced the Head of State during this speech officially relayed on his Twitter account.
Vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate.
pic.twitter.com/XTcknYaE5f
- Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 20, 2021
12.5 million people in France have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 4.5 million of them have received two doses.
All are at least 18 years old, the youngest not yet having access to vaccination.
What the numbers say
According to the latest statistics compiled by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), with more than 22% of the adult population having received at least one dose, France is in 10th position (out of 27 European states) . The nine best-ranked countries are, in particular, Belgium, the Netherlands and Finland. Our three big European neighbors, namely Spain, Italy and Germany, on the other hand, come behind. In detail by age group, France appears 13th among people aged at least 80 years and 6th among 70-79 years, for example.
Spain and Italy are ahead of France in the ranking of the major population having received two doses of vaccine, and therefore completely protected.
There, France fell to 15th place.
It therefore seems difficult to say that it is among the best placed countries within the European Union, even if it has climbed well in the rankings compared to the very beginnings.
Read also Covid: how Pfizer became the flagship of vaccination in France
Note that the data compiled by the ECDC often have a few days delay over the most up-to-date data (and communicated by Public Health France, for example).
Countries must report their data "at least twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays)," says the organization.
We must therefore consider these rankings with caution, especially since the differences are sometimes small).
The OurWorldInData site displays data that is often more recent, but covers the entire population who received at least one dose (and not just those aged at least 18 years).
France then appears a little less well ranked in Europe (13th out of 27) than for adults alone, but it is somewhat penalized by the fact that its underage population represents a larger share than for some of its neighbors.
This has undoubtedly not escaped Emmanuel Macron, who takes care to speak of “adult population”.
Is France moving faster?
Emmanuel Macron is telling the truth when he says that 2.5 million vaccinations were carried out last week (to specify, about 1.7 million first injections and 800 second injection).
Tuesday, the Ministry of Health indicated that it was targeting "2.6 or 2.7 million" doses administered this week, before a more frank increase the following week.
The pace of vaccination in France is currently around 350,000 daily vaccinations (on average over the past week), a number that has been stable for four days.
This represents more than 5 doses administered each day per 1,000 inhabitants (all ages combined), placing France, again, in the middle of the ranking.
In summary :
The vaccination campaign has accelerated in France, after a slower start than in its neighbors.
The various figures indicate that France is in the middle of the European ranking for vaccination, whether for the proportion of the population vaccinated or for the daily rate.