Jean Castex and Olivier Véran will spend the Thursday morning in Metz, meeting the staff of the Regional Hospital Center in Mercy, then local elected officials in the prefecture. With the appearance of cuddle therapy, this visit by the Prime Minister and his Minister of Health is considered “positive” by François Grosdidier. But the president LR of Metz-Métropole and mayor of Metz also sees it as a belated recognition: “Among the most affected by the virus, our department is the one that has had the least attention from the State. During the first wave, we fought for ourselves. “
Coming to talk about vaccination, the executive must not fall the mask. The Metz agglomeration is that of the Grand Est which showed between January 2 and 8 the highest incidence rate (298 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, against 250.7 in Grand Est and 191 in France). The head of government therefore makes the choice to go to the heart of the health battle. “He comes to support the hospital staff. It is as close as possible to the territories and the actors in the field as requested by Emmanuel Macron, ”said Richard Lioger, deputy from the same camp.
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Government battered
By choosing Metz, the Prime Minister also comes to the heart of the political battle. His government has been particularly battered in recent weeks by elected officials from the Grand Est. Mathieu Klein and Arnaud Robinet, the PS and LR mayors of Nancy and Reims, asked him in vain for a localized reconfinement. Jean Rottner, LR president of the Grand Est Region, threatened to procure the vaccines himself to go faster. François Grosdidier denounced the uselessness of the 6 p.m. curfew. “He does not come to answer those who are in political criticism”, assures Richard Lioger.
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Regain control
Nevertheless, with the approach of regional and departmental, the government must regain control in the face of local elected officials who are waiting for it firmly, like François Grosdidier: “There will not be of partisan controversy. But we still have a lot of questions about vaccination. The pace is very slow. The elected representatives of the territory are ready to support the State in the information chain, to target isolated people or organize vaccination centers. But we have neither the timetable nor the modalities. “MEP Nathalie Colin-Oesterlé will be there to get this message across:” Only 7.6% of the doses delivered have been used to date. We do not encounter problems with vaccines but with logistics, and therefore unpreparedness. We must mobilize the army, medical students, retired health professionals and involve the territories in order to offer centers and mobile units as close as possible to the people. “
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