The vaccination campaign should experience a new acceleration in the coming days.
French people over the age of 55 will be able, "from this Saturday", to be vaccinated against Covid-19 with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine - the fourth to be available in the territory - announced the Minister of Health , Olivier Véran.
France received a first delivery of 200,000 doses of this vaccine at the end of last week but was awaiting the conclusions of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) which estimated on Wednesday that it benefited from an immub benefit report / favorable risks despite a "very rare" risk of blood clots.
"The first 200,000 vaccines are delivered to pharmacies, doctors and liberal nurses who will be able to start offering it to their patients from this Saturday," the minister said at a government press conference.
Unlike other vaccines already used in France (Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca), “this vaccine […] only requires one injection for you to be protected, no booster shots, no second injection”, a- he reminded.
Soon 14 million French people vaccinated
Another announcement, vaccination will be open from next Monday for relatives of people "in a situation of severe immuno-depression", which concerns "several hundred thousand" people in France.
Finally Olivier Véran announced the possibility of "starting by mid-May" the vaccination of people suffering from obesity.
"2.5 million French people are vaccinated every week and the pace will increase further
", Also assured this Thursday the Minister of Health.
As a reminder, to date, more than 13 million French people have received at least one dose and more than 4.8 million have received both injections, according to Public Health France.
As of this Saturday, 400,000 second-line employees, aged 55 and over, with or without comorbidity, will be able to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
"If we can proceed with this expansion, it is because our vaccination campaign is progressing well," said Jean Castex adding that "by the end of the week, 14 million people will have received a first dose, with a rate of vaccination among the fastest in Europe ”.
"One goal: to offer vaccination to everyone by the end of the summer"
After a difficult start, 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 per day per 1,000 inhabitants (all ages combined), actually placing France in the middle of the ranking compared to its European neighbors.
Read alsoCovid-19: is France really one of the “most advanced” European countries for adult vaccination?
"Already, the vast majority of the most vulnerable people have now been vaccinated, as well as almost all nursing home residents, but also 70% of over 70s and 70% of caregivers," said Jean Castex , recalling that "the final objective is to be able to offer vaccination to everyone by the end of the summer".
"Very rare cases of thrombosis"
The campaign did not go without a hitch.
The fears generated by very rare cases of thrombosis after the administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine are still weighing on the dynamics.
Emmanuel Macron himself had recognized Tuesday evening during a meeting "vaccines" at the Elysee Palace that it was necessary "to know how to maintain this rhythm", in particular because of "difficulties to convince on the AstraZeneca".
“This vaccine is very effective, but like many other vaccines or drugs, it can have transient side effects.
In very rare cases, it can cause clots and lead to more serious side effects.
These cases are very rare since there are 5 examples of this type for 1 million people vaccinated, ”assured Olivier Véran.
