France is widening the gap between mRNA vaccines to widen it

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PARIS (Reuters) – France will extend the period between the first and second RNA vaccines against COVID to six weeks from four weeks from April 14 to speed up the inoculation campaign, the minister said on Sunday of Health, Olivier Veran, in the newspaper JDD.

People are waiting after the injection of a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine during the operation “5,000 vaccines in one day and in one place” in Nice as part of the coronavirus vaccination campaign (COVID -19) in France, April 9th. 2021. REUTERS / Eric Gaillard

Although France’s top health authority advised a six-week period between the two shots in January in order to stretch supplies, the government at the time said there was insufficient data on vaccine performance. with a longer interval.

France could do it now safely because it vaccinated a younger age group, Veran said.

“(This) will allow us to vaccinate faster without reducing protection,” the minister told the newspaper.

France has approved the use of the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines.

Veran also said that as of Monday the AstraZeneca vaccine would be available to all over the age of 55 and not just to those with severe pre-existing conditions.

After a glacial start, France’s vaccine launch is reaching its peak, reaching a target of 10 million first doses a week ahead of the mid-April target. The government plans to deliver another ten million first shots in mid-May.

Johnson & Johnson would deliver its first 200,000 doses destined for France on Monday, a week earlier, Veran said.

President Emmanuel Macron, who was forced by an increase in the infection rate and a health system overburdened to impose a third national blockade, has an accelerated deployment of vaccines to allow a gradual reopening of the country from the middle of the next month.

Figures in intensive care continue to rise and France is likely to exceed the 100,000 death toll this week. On Saturday, it reported more than 43,000 new cases of COVID-19 and said there were now 5,769 patients receiving critical care.

However, Veran said there were signs that a new blockade was beginning to slow the rate of infection.

“It’s still very high,” Veran told JDD. “We can expect the fall to come after a period of stabilization. But for that, we have to move on.”

Reports by Richard Lough; Edited by Daniel Wallis

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