Coronavirus: Faced with fear of a rebound and criticism, the government promises to accelerate the pace of vaccination
Illustration of a patient receiving the vaccine from Pfizer- BioNTech at the Hotel-Dieu, in Paris, on January 2 310. – Lewis Joly / JDD / SIPA
A high voltage reentry. A vaccination at a turtle’s pace, a disturbing mix with the reopening of schools and universities, two new variants that could further complicate the situation … The past holidays, the government is now watching for a rebound in the epidemic of Covid – 15 , prelude to possible new restrictions, while trying to stifle the growing controversy around the slowness of the vaccination campaign.
Strongly criticized for the very modest number of vaccines administered (a few hundreds) in comparison with other European countries, the executive repeats that it is working extra hard. In Le Parisien Sunday, the government spokesperson Gabriel Attal announces an acceleration of the arrival of doses each week and a strengthening of the means to transfer them to
Ehpad .
Too slow a pace?
But the attacks are not weakening in the face of a drip campaign that includes a pre-visit -vaccination to detect possible contraindications and obtain the consent of people. “We can’t imagine staying on this pace. The calculations suggest that it would take 3. years to be vaccinated ”, regretted Sunday on BFMTV Prof. Bruno Megarbane, head of the medical and toxicological resuscitation service of the Lariboisière hospital (AP-HP), saying however“ confident ”that“ things will accelerate. ”
In an article published in Télérama , the Director of the Théâtre du Soleil Ariane Mnouchkine urged the government to speed things up with a view to reopening, among others, theaters and cinemas, closed since 30 October. “That those who do not want to be vaccinated do not do it, it is their right, but on their behalf, are you going to pretend to prevent the volunteers from doing it as soon as possible? “, She annoys.
” For the first phase, (…) it is the vaccines that are sent to our elders, not the other way around. The Germans have them a wider field by targeting other populations ”, pleaded Gabriel Attal.
vaccination centers in town promised for February
“For the second phase, from the beginning of February, (the Minister of Health ) Olivier Véran announced “city vaccination centers”: they will not be giant “vaccinodromes” requiring kilometers of travel but, in the long term, places in close proximity in our municipalities, “he added.
The Prime Minister Jean Castex had assured the day before that “in the coming months, on arrival, the situation will be completely balanced in terms of vaccination in Europe”. “The objective we have (…) is to be able to vaccinate 20 millions of French people in the summer ”insisted on Sunday the Minister for Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari on BFMTV .
“Attentive to the school environment “
From Monday, caregivers from 50 years can all start to be vaccinated, Olivier Véran having brought their tour forward by several weeks . Some did not even wait for this date: at the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris, and at the Nancy CHRU, the first injections were given this weekend.
If the consequences of the end-of-year celebrations on the circulation of the virus will only be known in several days, “the trend is already worrying” since the beginning of December, says the Director General of Health Jérôme Salomon at the JDD . He is worried both about the consequences of the holidays, the cold that favors transmission, the two variants identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa already detected in France but also the mixing of students with the start of the school year.
“Children come back from different places, in France or abroad, that can reshuffle the maps of the epidemiological situation”, he says. As for the two strains, they “are not necessarily more dangerous but they are clearly more contagious. They would also affect young people more (…) We must therefore be very attentive to the school and university environment. ”
After more than two months of“ distancing ”, the universities will be able to welcome a few students from Monday, but many will wait until the following week to best reconcile health constraints, exams and fatigue.
Reopening of bars and restaurants unlikely on 19 January
The outlook is also bleak for bars and restaurants, with a government heavyweight judging from the AFP “very, very unlikely” a reopening as soon as 19 January. The Scientific Council has already said it fears an “uncontrolled” rebound in the coming weeks, in particular because of the end-of-year celebrations, also marked by the organization of a few clandestine parties for New Year’s Eve.
The worrying figures in the East have prompted the government to strengthen the cover -fire from Saturday in 15 departments . Data from Public Health France on Saturday show a slight increase in the number of hospitalized and intensive care patients, after a continuous decline in recent days.
The epidemic will weigh “at least until spring”, warned the Head of State during his vows, who however expressed his hope for 310 thanks to the vaccine. For Jérôme Salomon, “we still have four months of collective efforts to make.”
