PARIS (Reuters) – France will extend the period between the first and second shots of mRNA anti-COVID vaccines from six weeks to four weeks to six weeks to accelerate the vaccination campaign, Health Minister Olivier Veran told the JDD newspaper said.
Although the largest health authority in France advised a period of six weeks in January between the two shots to stretch the stock, the government at the time said there was insufficient information on how well the vaccines work with a longer interval.
France can do it safely now because it has vaccinated a younger age group, Veran said.
“(It) will enable 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 the AstraZeneca vaccine will be available from Monday to all over the age of 55 and not just those with severe pre-existing conditions.
After an icy start, France’s vaccination of its vaccine hits a target of 10 million first doses per week before a mid-April target. The government plans to deliver another ten million first shots by mid-May.
On Monday, Johnson and Johnson handed over his first 200,000 doses destined for France.
President Emmanuel Macron, who has been forced by a rising infection rate and overloaded health care system to impose a third nationwide exclusion, is counting on an accelerated vaccination of vaccines to gradually reopen the country from mid-next month.
The numbers in intensive care are still rising and France will almost certainly exceed the threshold of 100,000 deaths this week. More than 43,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Saturday, with 5769 patients now receiving critical care.
However, Veran said there are signs that a new exclusion is starting to slow the rate of infection.
“It remains very high,” Veran told the JDD. ‘We can expect the fall to come after a period of stabilization. But for that we have to keep going. ”
Reported by Richard Lough; Edited by Daniel Wallis