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Jean Castex exposes on Thursday the government strategy on vaccines, a decisive step that the executive does not want to miss in the fight against the Covid-19 epidemic, after having stumbled upon masks and tests.
While the UK on Wednesday became the first country to approve the massive use of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, which will be released as early as next week, the French government also intends to take this turn but with caution.
“It will not be a mandatory vaccination strategy, but a strategy of conviction and transparency,” Emmanuel Macron reiterated Tuesday.
Distrust of vaccines is in fact stronger in France than among its neighbors.
And “we have few prospects” on “first generation” vaccines, which must be stored between -80 and -20 degrees and require complex logistics, the Head of State recalled.
There are two main phases. A first “highly targeted” vaccination campaign between late December and early January for priority people, followed by a second “broader” campaign targeting the general public between April and June.
“There is apprehension, this is normal since we have never released a vaccine so quickly, but we need” the vaccination. “It will be the task of the public authorities to convince the French to reassure them, to teach them a lot”, summarizes Prime Minister Manuel Valls.
– Logistic problems –
Prime Minister Jean Castex assured Wednesday that “he has preordained enough to vaccinate 100 million people”.
He will hold a press conference at the end of the afternoon with his health ministers Olivier Véran, European Affairs Clément Beaune and Industria Agnès Pannier-Runacher, which will be very educational about vaccines, with a “great transparency on the buying process”, according to his entourage .
The government is expected to follow the “five step-by-step steps” recommended Monday by the High Authority for Health (HAS), starting with the elderly living in nursing homes and at-risk employees of these facilities.
In addition to logistical and educational issues, caution is driven by the fact that vaccines appear to prevent the development of the Covid-19 disease, but it is unknown for how long and if they also prevent transmission of the virus.
The first step is to reduce the health impact of the disease (hospitalizations, ICU admissions and death).
For the “control” of the epidemic it will be necessary “to wait for the studies to establish the proof that vaccines have a possible efficacy on the transmission of the virus” and that their availability “is sufficient”, underlines the HAV.
According to a government source, to pilot this complex device, the government does not rule out the appointment of a “Mr. or Mrs. Vaccino”.
– “Defective piloting” –
The executive does not want to miss the vaccination campaign that would allow him to forget his past handling of the epidemic, with his hiccups on the masks or his delay in testing.
A report by the Assembly’s inquiry commission on crisis management, led by the right-wing LR, overwhelms the government and its “bad leadership”. LREM denounced a “partial and partial relationship”.
The premier greeted the majority of health results “among the best in Europe” in front of the deputies on Tuesday, even if “they are not yet sufficient”, suggesting a further relaxation of the restrictions on 15 December.
Mr. Castex should specify in this regard the “caliber” reserved for religious ceremonies, after citing “6 m2 per faithful”, against a maximum of 30 people currently.
But the government remains vigilant as the year-end holidays approach, which could encourage the circulation of the virus.
In this regard, it will launch, perhaps before Christmas, massive Covid-19 projection campaigns in Saint-Etienne, Le Havre and another city in the north.
It also intends to better control the isolation of the sick, without ruling out sanctions.
On the closure of ski resorts, Castex said he was considering seven-day isolation for Frenchmen returning from skiing abroad, with random border checks, sparking a protest in the opposition.
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