The symbolic launch takes place in two accommodation structures for the elderly, one in Seine-Saint-Denis, the other in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.
Le Monde avec AFP
D-Day and glimmer of hope on Boxing Day: twenty elderly people and caregivers will be the first French people to be vaccinated on Sunday 27 December against the Covid-19, at the end of a year bereaved by a virus which has killed more than 62,500 people in the country. After the green light given on December 21 to the product of the American Pfizer and the German BioNTech by the European Union, almost all of its member states are simultaneously launching their vaccination campaign, opened one day in advance by Germany, Hungary and Slovakia.
The vaccine, sent on Saturday in France under good escort, was particularly expected in France, where the virus is actively circulating and the presence of its British variant, possibly more contagious, has was confirmed on Friday in a patient.
About twenty people vaccinated this Sunday
The symbolic launch of the French vaccination campaign takes place on Sunday in two accommodation facilities for the elderly, one located in Seine-Saint-Denis, a department which has paid a heavy price for the Covid, the other in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, one of the regions where the rate incidence of the virus is the highest.
In the m atinée, ten residents over 75 years of the long-term care unit of René-Muret hospital in Sevran (Public Assistance – Hospitals of Paris), as well as one of their doctors over 65 , will be given a first dose of the vaccine. At the beginning of the afternoon, it will be the turn of another ten residents of the geriatric center of Champmaillot, dependent on the CHU of Dijon, and a specialist doctor over the age of 65, to receive in turn the Pfizer-BioNTech, called Comirnaty in reference to the technology used (messenger RNA, mRNA in English).
A progressive vaccination campaign
The ramp-up of the vaccination campaign will be gradual: next week it will concern 23 establishments in the regions of Paris, Lyon, Lille and Tours, before intensifying to reach around a hundred places in the first two weeks of January. By the end of February, the government has set the target of one million vaccinated among the oldest and most vulnerable, individuals and caregivers, in the 7,000 nursing homes and other similar establishments.
“All retirees over 65” will follow until the spring, then the rest of the population aged 16 and over, again on a voluntary basis. The government hopes to have vaccinated “15 million people by this summer,” said Matignon on Saturday, a deadline slightly delayed compared to what had been envisaged.
Mistrust and uncertainties
In the country of Pasteur, skepticism about vaccines remains high: a majority of French people (56%) did not plan to be vaccinated against Covid -19, according to a BVA poll published by the Sunday Journal and carried out from December 11 to 14. Will vaccination only be effective in the face of new strains of the coronavirus? Everything suggests that vaccines are effective on these mutants, reassured the Directorate General of Health on Saturday.