From this Saturday, all French adults who have comorbidities are called upon to be vaccinated. In total, nearly 4 million people are affected.
- Comorbidities concern people suffering from obesity, hypertension, diabetes, kidney or heart failure, or cancer.
- Nearly 15 million French people received a first injection and more than 6 million had both doses.
- Emmanuel Macron ruled out the option of accelerating the vaccination schedule.
Faced with the growing number of available vaccination slots, the government reacted. This Thursday, Emmanuel Macron announced, in an interview with the regional press, the opening to people “who are seriously overweight“, that is “a body mass index greater than 30”. “I invite the 2.3 million French people concerned to go to the vaccination centers this weekend”, he indicated. This Friday morning, Olivier Véran went further and announced to France info that these are all “people with comorbidities, such as hypertension, diabetes, kidney or heart failure, or cancer” who will be able to be vaccinated tomorrow.
4 million French people concerned
In total, 4 million additional French people are called upon to be vaccinated. “The President of the Republic made an important announcement yesterdayhe explained. There are a certain number of French people who, aged between 18 and 55, suffer from chronic diseases, foremost among which is obesity – which is the first chronic disease or the first risk factor apart from age, which exposed to serious forms. But we obviously open the vaccination to people who have comorbidities, such as hypertension or diabetes, kidney or heart failure, or cancers..”
“In total, we are opening vaccination tomorrow to nearly 4 million vulnerable people,” announced the Minister of Health. pic.twitter.com/KZ2mcobSS4
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) April 30, 2021
Nearly 15 million French people received a first injection and more than 6 million had both doses. In the past 24 hours, there have been 545,888 doses of vaccine injected, a record, welcomed the Minister of Health, specifying that this corresponds to “6 French people protected every second”. At the same time, the number of patients hospitalized in intensive care continues to decrease and there are now 5,804 patients who are concerned, compared to 6,000 two weeks ago. The number of Covid patients in hospital also continues to decline with 29,487 hospitalizations against 29,911 the day before.
No acceleration of the vaccination schedule
Prioritization by age remains the government’s strategy in terms of vaccination. The next stage will take place on May 15 with the opening to 50-55 year olds without comorbidity conditions. While many voices are calling for the timetable to be accelerated, the Head of State has ruled out this option. “Not immediatelyhe replied. We can optimize the operation of our 1,700 vaccination centres. We will continue to prioritize by age because it is the most effective.”
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