Covid-19. The Omicron variant gallops, the French government wants to accelerate

73,000 positive cases of Covid-19 screened Monday, December 20, 2021. “An increase of 15% compared to the previous Monday”, announced this Tuesday evening, December 21, the government spokesman, Gabriel Attal, at the end of a day from which emerges an impression of urgency. This increase in the number of contaminations is ” pulled “ by the presence of the Omicron variant. Variant to which “20% of positive cases”.

From yesterday morning, on France 2, Gabriel Attal recognized: “We are entering a period of great turbulence. ” The Prime Minister then received the associations of elected officials. “The observation that we shared with elected officials is that, if the virus is accelerating, we are also accelerating », sums up the government spokesperson.

The government wants in particular to get ahead of the announcement of Jean Castex, Friday, December 24: the vaccine pass. Reserved for vaccinated only, unlike the health pass, which is open to people tested.

“No consensus” on the health pass in business

The bill was to pass in the Council of Ministers on January 5, 2022. “We have decided to speed up and bring forward this calendar: an extraordinary Council of Ministers will be held next Monday, December 27. “ Deputies and Senators will debate it “Between Christmas and New Year’s Day”. For an adoption « from the first half of January ”.

The health pass in business will not appear in the text. There is no “No consensus” on this point, observes Gabriel Attal after the Prime Minister met with representatives of the political groups on Tuesday afternoon.

Only France rebellious (LFI) did not participate in this meeting. LFI deputy Mathilde Panot reiterated this Tuesday, in a forum, that her group will carry within the framework of a parliamentary niche, on January 13, “A bill to abolish exceptional regimes, including the health pass […] ».

To counter the wave and preserve the hospital, the government intends to use the recall, ” effective “ against the variant. By January 15, 44 million people are likely to receive a third dose. Since yesterday, a little over twenty million have received it. Or a little less than half.

More vaccination centers

To achieve the goal, the vaccination campaign must therefore continue at a sustained pace. On this point, the Ministry of Health shows some optimism. For the day of Friday, December 17 alone, 957,000 injections were performed, a record since the start of the campaign, a year ago.

How to accelerate further? The government is counting on opening more centers: 1,590 are currently active, or 400 more than at the end of November. The ministry also wants these centers to be open seven days a week, earlier in the morning and later in the evening, “If possible until 10 pm”. He also wants to believe that there will be no drop in vaccination capacity during the holidays, “Including December 24 and 31”.

Finally, from January 2022, the booster could be administered four months after a complete vaccination schedule, and no longer after five months. On this point, the ministry is awaiting the opinion of the High Authority for Health.

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