France vows to speed up vaccinations after slow rollout 'scandal'

10:20, January 06, 2021

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  France promises faster vaccine rollout after criticism

  The French government, under pressure for lagging behind EU neighbours in rolling out Covid vaccinations, promised on Tuesday to dispense jabs much more quickly and catch up.File photo: AgenciesHealth Minister Olivier Veran said more than 2,000 people had been vaccinated on Monday and that the "cruising speed of vaccinations will catch up with our neighbours in the coming days".The French campaign had rolled out just over 500 doses as of January 1, with critics calling that figure "a scandal" compared with the 200,000 people immunised in Germany in a similar timeframe, after the EU-wide rollout began a week ago.President Emmanuel Macron, under pressure to take personal responsibility, met officials including Prime Minister Jean Castex on Monday to discuss the logjam."By Thursday we will increase numbers in a major way," Veran told RTL radio, saying that "we will be on an exponential curve".France would now "amplify, accelerate and simplify" its vaccination strategy, he said.Veran said vaccinations for people over 75 years of age who are not in care homes would be authorised by the end of January, covering five million people.He said the campaign would also be widened to include firefighters and home helpers over 50.France was currently taking delivery of 500,000 doses of a vaccine developed by Pfizer per week, Veran said.Once approved for the EU, 500,000 doses of a vaccine by Moderna would be added every month, he said.Scepticism about vaccines is making the governments task harder.Just 40 percent of French want to take the vaccine compared with 77 percent in Britain, according to an opinion poll last week by Ipsos Global Advisor in partnership with the World Economic Forum.Veran also said that France had detected "about 10 suspected or confirmed cases" of a new variant virus strain that emerged in England, adding that authorities were watching the highly-contagious mutant virus "like hawks"....

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  Biden criticizes pace of vaccine rollout, vows to accelerate

  President-elect Joe Biden criticized the Trump administration Tuesday for the pace of distributing COVID-19 vaccines and predicted that "things will get worse before they get better" when it comes to the pandemic.President-elect Joe Biden speaks at The Queen theater, Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. (Photo: AP)"We need to be honest — the next few weeks and months are going to be very tough, very tough for our nation. Maybe the toughest during this entire pandemic," Biden said during remarks in Wilmington, Delaware on Tuesday.His comments come as the coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 336,000 Americans, with experts warning holiday travel and gatherings could precipitate yet another spike in virus cases even as the virus has already been surging in states nationwide.Biden encouraged Americans to "steel our spines" for challenges to come and predicted that "things are going to get worse before they get better."He also went after the Trump Administration over their vaccination efforts, warning that the project, dubbed Operation Warp Speed, is moving at a slower pace than needed."As I long feared and warned the effort to distribute and administer the vaccine is not progressing as it should," he said.Earlier this month, Trump administration officials said they planned to have 20 million doses of the vaccine distributed by the end of the year. But according to data provided by the Centers for Disease Control, just over 11.4 million doses have been distributed and only 2.1 million people have received their first dose.At the current pace, Biden said "its gonna take years, not months, to vaccinate the American people."President Donald Trump deflected Bidens critique. "It is up to the States to distribute the vaccines once brought to the designated areas by the Federal Government," he tweeted Tuesday. "We have not only developed the vaccines, including putting up money to m...

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  Under fire, France pledges speedier vaccination rollout

  Alain a French 92-year-old man receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at the at the Champmaillot nursing home in Dijon, central France, Sunday Dec. 27, 2020. (File photo: AP)Under fire for a glacially slow rollout of coronavirus vaccine shots, France’s government pledged Thursday to pick up the pace, offering quicker inoculation to a broader array of health care workers starting next week.President Emmanuel Macron also intervened in what was becoming an increasingly sharp debate about the slow start of vaccinations against the virus in France. Macron used his traditional New Year’s address to the nation Thursday night to promise that he will personally ensure there is no unnecessary heel-dragging.The French leader said he would not allow “an unjustified slowness, for bad reasons, to take root.”Before Macron spoke, his health minister tweeted that shots would be offered from Monday to health care workers aged 50 and older.Only a few hundred people received vaccines against the coronavirus in the days after a 78-year-old in a long-term care facility got the first shot on Sunday.Consent requirements have slowed the process. Officials were also treading cautiously because of widespread skepticism in France around the safety of the rapidly developed vaccines.But critics increasingly are accusing health officials of being overly cautious.The National Academy of Medicine said the slow start “is difficult to defend.”France has reported the virus-related deaths of more than 64,000 people since the start of the pandemic.