Corona Pandemic: France offers free vaccinations

The French government has announced that it will offer free crown vaccinations to all people in the country. From January 1st, it will primarily look after particularly vulnerable patients. But there is no mandatory vaccination.

In France, corona vaccination should be free for everyone. “The start of vaccination is now only a matter of weeks,” Prime Minister Jean Castex said as he presented the national vaccination strategy. One million particularly at risk people should be vaccinated as early as January. These are older people in nursing homes, according to Castex. France will have approximately 200 million doses of the vaccine, which will make it possible to vaccinate 100 million people.

French President Emmanuel Macron had already announced that there would be no mandatory vaccination in his country. Health Minister Olivier Véran has warned that vaccination will not fundamentally change the course of the epidemic in the coming months. But they will reduce mortality and the number of severe cases. Véran stressed that transparency is important. The family, of course, is consulted before vaccinations in nursing homes.

“We have not yet defeated this virus”

Prime Minister Castex also commented on the current situation of the crown in the country. The situation has clearly improved, but the situation remains fragile. “We haven’t beaten this virus yet,” he said. For Christmas, Castex suggested celebrating a maximum of six people plus children per family.

The nationwide exit restrictions apply in France until mid-December. They should therefore be replaced by the night curfew. According to the government, people could move freely in the country during the holidays: on Christmas Eve and on New Year’s Eve, the night curfew will be suspended. The number of new infections each day had recently decreased significantly in France and was now even below 5,000.