The holidays have passed, the government is now watching for a rebound in the Covid-19 epidemic, a prelude to possible new restrictions, while trying to quell the growing controversy around the slowness of the vaccination campaign.
But with 516 people vaccinated on January 1, according to the Ministry of Health, the attacks did not weaken in the face of a trickle-down campaign that included a pre-vaccination visit to detect possible contraindications and obtain people’s consent.
“We cannot consider staying on this pace. Calculations suggest that it would take 3,000 years to be vaccinated“, regretted Sunday on BFMTV Professor Bruno Megarbane, head of the medical and toxicological resuscitation service of the Lariboisière hospital (AP-HP).
In a column published in Télérama, the director of the Théâtre du Soleil Ariane Mnouchkine urged the government to speed things up with a view to reopening, among others, theaters and cinemas, closed since October 30.
“That those who don’t want to be vaccinated don’t do it is their right, but on their behalf, are you going to pretend to prevent volunteers from doing it as soon as possible?“, she annoys.
“For the first phase, (…) it is the vaccines that are sent to our elders, not the other way around. The Germans have a wider field by targeting other populations“pleaded Gabriel Attal.
“For the second phase, from the beginning of February, (the Minister of Health) Olivier Véran announced “city vaccination centers”: they will not be giant “vaccinodromes” requiring kilometers of travel but, in the long term, places in close proximity in our municipalities“, he added.
Prime Minister Jean Castex had assured the day before that “in the coming months, on arrival, the situation will be completely balanced in terms of vaccination in Europe“.
“It is not going fast enough but it is not over the next 15 days or the next month that the effectiveness of the vaccination campaign will be judged.“, estimated Sunday on BFMTV the epidemiologist Arnaud Fontanet, setting a first objective of 5 to 10 million people vaccinated by the end of March to see a first impact on the circulation of the virus.
“My concern is not so much over the first few weeks, my concern is that we are facing a worldwide demand for these considerable vaccines.“, continued this member of the Scientific Council:”In three months will we have sufficient doses for Europe and the rest of the world?“.
From Monday, caregivers aged 50 and over can all start to be vaccinated, Olivier Véran having brought their turn forward by several weeks.
“Attentive to the school environment”
If the consequences of the holiday season on the circulation of the virus will not be known for several days, “the trend is already worrying“since the beginning of December, says for his part the Director General of Health Jérôme Salomon to the JDD.
He is worried both about the consequences of the holidays, the cold that favors transmission, the two variants identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa already detected in France but also the mixing of students with the start of the school year.
“Children come back from different places, in France or abroad, it can reshuffle the maps of the epidemiological situation“, he says. As for the two strains, they”are not necessarily more dangerous, but they are much more contagious. They would also affect young people more (…) We must therefore be very attentive to the school and university environment.“.
However, “the children will go to school tomorrow (Monday) as scheduled“, according to the reinforced health protocol, assured the Minister of National Education Jean-Michel Blanquer on BFMTV.
The outlook is also bleak for bars and restaurants, with a government heavyweight judging from AFP “very, very unlikely“a reopening from January 20.
The worrying figures in the East pushed the government to strengthen the curfew on Saturday in 15 departments. Data from Public Health France on Sunday show a new increase in the number of hospitalized and intensive care patients, while the bar of 65,000 deaths since the start of the epidemic has been crossed.
The epidemic will weigh “at least until spring“, had warned during his vows the head of state who, however, expressed his hope for 2021 thanks to the vaccine.
“The vaccine will only start to impact in three months, and here we have three difficult months“, insisted Arnaud Fontanet, hoping that the restrictive measures are no longer necessary”in the fall of 2021“.
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