Government spokesman Gabriel Attal assures us that the vaccination rate will accelerate and announces that 500,000 additional doses will arrive each week.
Emmanuel Macron deplored an "unjustified slowness" in the rate of vaccination.
Can this delay be made up?
GABRIEL ATTAL.
We have the same number of doses as our neighbors, but we have chosen a different path.
The choice to protect first the populations most at risk, for which there are more logistics and precautions to take, led to a necessarily gradual start.
We accept it but, as the President of the Republic said, this cannot justify unnecessary delays.
The acceleration requested by the president has already started: we are strengthening the means to bring vaccines to nursing homes.
As of this weekend, we are starting to vaccinate caregivers over 50, which was initially planned for February.
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How can we understand the government's change of footing on “vaccinodromes”?
For the first phase, the government has always been clear: it is the vaccines that are sent to our seniors, not the other way around.
The Germans have a wider field by targeting other populations.
For the second phase, at the beginning of February, Olivier Véran announced “city vaccination centers”: they will not be giant “vaccinodromes” requiring kilometers of travel but, ultimately, places in close proximity in our municipalities.
The president announced the creation of a citizens' council to make the process transparent.
Where we are ?
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A group of 30 citizens drawn at random, representing all the territories, will be formed on January 10.
Their members will be able to ask all questions, make all observations and call on Olivier Véran or Professor Alain Fischer.
How to be more transparent about the number of people vaccinated, the state of stocks, etc.
?
We have built in recent months a principle of total transparency.
We see it for example on the tests: unlike some of our neighbors, we even manage to continuously give the number of antigenic tests carried out.
This same principle will apply to the vaccine: from Monday, you will know everything about the vaccination campaign.
There will be transparent, continuous publication.
On the delivery of doses, 500,000 have already been received.
And 500,000 additional doses will arrive at the start of the week.
Isn't the vaccination passport going to be necessary?
The President was clear that vaccination will not be compulsory.
I know that some, especially on the right, prefer to force rather than convince.
This is not our case.
We have always made the choice of trust and individual responsibility, and the French have never lacked it.
VIDEO. Emmanuel Macron: "I will not make vaccination compulsory"
Could you space the two doses apart to vaccinate more people in the short term?
Our scientific authorities are watching everything that is discussed among our neighbors, including the British.
At this stage, for this vaccine, the French authorities recommend a second injection three weeks after the first;
but we work continuously.
After the delays on the masks, the tests, here are the vaccines?
The success of a six-month vaccination campaign after seven days is not judged.
At the end of phase 1, we will have been able to offer a vaccine to priority audiences and, by February, we will draw up a first assessment.
Skepticism is growing in the population.
Haven't you done too much about the possible side effects?
From the start, it has been said that this vaccine was a hope for getting out of the crisis.
But we chose to put everything on the table and to be perfectly transparent about what was known and what was not.
This is the condition of trust and we do not regret it.
Of course, not everything has been perfect since the start of the crisis.
But what would the professionals have said about “everything is going wrong” if, like some countries, we had had to oxygenate our patients in their cars in hospital car parks for lack of space?
The Ministry of Health has already been able to double the number of resuscitation beds and move patients from one region to another.
What do you say to those who work after 6 pm and are affected by the new curfew?
French people who work late will be able to continue to do so because the same exemptions as for the 8 p.m. curfew apply.
Return trips home after work are not affected.
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Will the curfew be lifted on January 7 for the less affected areas?
At this stage, the epidemic justifies the maintenance of a curfew throughout the national territory.
Even if the east is more affected, the virus circulates everywhere and the winter is favorable to its spread.
Some rules will change slightly, for example on teleworking.
For those who are 100% remote, being able to come back to their workplace one day a week meets a psychological need for some: we have to hear it.
What will happen on January 20 for restaurants and high schools in particular?
This date remains a date, especially for restaurateurs.
We hope they can reopen as soon as possible.
We are not going to make a fuss: if we decided today, they could not reopen.
We will therefore continue to fight.
As for high schools, the start of the school year takes place as planned on January 4, with the possibility of having half of students face-to-face and the other in distance.
We obviously remain very vigilant, especially after the information relayed by British scientists on a greater contagiousness of the English variant among young people.
What are the government's priorities for 2021?
Managing the health crisis does not prevent reforms, on the contrary.
Ecology and the protection of the Republic will be the great battles of the start of the school year.
The reforms of pensions and unemployment insurance must remain on the table even if their timetable must obviously adapt to the health crisis and its economic and social consequences.
We will build a calendar for the next few months during the government seminar on January 13 around the President and the Prime Minister.