EPIDEMIC: This “first phase” of the vaccination against coronavirus, concerning people at risk “will take place over a period of six to eight weeks”
“If the conditions are met”, the vaccination campaign against the coronavirus in France will begin “from the last week of December”, announced the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, this Wednesday, specifying that the non-priority populations will wait “the end of the spring ”.
The marketing authorization from the European Medicines Agency is “expected for December 21st,” said Jean Castex, adding that the opinion of the High Authority for Health which must be issued “immediately”.
The least-risk population vaccinated in the spring
This “first phase” concerning people at risk “will spread over a period of six to eight weeks, to take into account the period of 21 days between the first vaccination and the booster”, added the Prime Minister while presenting in front of the Assembly government strategy.
Returning to the details of the calendar, Jean Castex recalled that in a second step will be vaccinated “nearly 14 million people with an age-related risk factor or a chronic pathology” as well as “certain health professionals”. The rest of the population will be targeted only in a “third step”, “at the end of spring”. A slight slippage when the Prime Minister had indicated two weeks ago wanting to initiate this phase “from the spring”.
No vaccination without consent
Insisting on “trust” and “transparency”, Jean Castex announced, “that a medical consultation will be offered before the act of vaccination and that it must be organized under medical supervision”. “No vaccination will take place without informed consent having been expressed”, pleaded the Prime Minister. He also stressed that “the start of the vaccination campaign will not mark the end of the epidemic”. And that as such, the testing campaigns and the incentives for isolation will continue in the coming months.
In this context, Jean Castex indicated that France currently has a “screening capacity of up to three million tests per week”. “We will further strengthen the resources allocated to tracing cases, by allowing the additional recruitment of 4,000” full-time jobs for Medicare, he added. Finally, in accordance with what he had promised, Jean Castex specified that “1,500 liberal nurses and 3,000 social support workers” would be mobilized every day to visit sick people who would decide to isolate themselves.
