The acceleration given to vaccination against Covid-19 will continue, assured the government on Sunday, March 7. More than half a million people have been vaccinated over three days since Friday, March 5.

“Whenever a vaccine is available in our territory, a French must be vaccinated, whether on Monday or Sunday, the vaccines must be offered as quickly as possible,” said the minister. of Health Olivier Véran after having visited two vaccination centers in Tourcoing (North).

Vaccine deliveries will continue to increase in the coming weeks. The Deputy Minister in charge of Industry, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, indicated on Radio Classique on Monday, March 8 that, “within two weeks”, the rate of vaccine dose deliveries would exceed 2 million per week. She also confirmed that France will have the capacity to vaccinate 30 million people by the end of June.

Read also: Covid: vaccination in pharmacies authorized from March 15

Indicators to be qualified

In another vaccination center, in Boulogne-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais), Olivier Véran had previously congratulated himself that the “exceptional effort” of the weekend made it possible to carry out 220,000 injections on Saturday “against 80,000- 85,000 usually on Saturdays “.

Prime Minister Jean Castex also commented on these figures in a tweet:

585,000 French people have been vaccinated since Friday.
A new milestone in our battle against the virus was taken this weekend.
Nothing would have been possible without our caregivers, firefighters, soldiers, elected officials, agents of the State and communities.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you!

– Jean Castex (@JeanCASTEX) March 7, 2021

However, daily hospitalizations dampen the enthusiasm. 3,743 patients were hospitalized in intensive care on Sunday March 7. The highest figure since the end of November, according to Public Health France. The number of new cases remained high, with 21,825 in the last 24 hours.

The question of local confinements

At the other end of France, the LR mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi hailed “a logistical feat” with the vaccination in the metropolis of 12,800 people this weekend.

“I have the feeling that the addition of containment and vaccination measures will lead to a drop in viral circulation sufficiently significant to no longer need to reconfine the population during the next weekends,” he said. discount.

Both in Nice and in Dunkirk, the authorities will have to decide on a renewal or not of the confinements imposed for two weekends.

Vaccinate caregivers

Highlighting a “growing craze among caregivers” to be vaccinated, Mr. Véran also said he was “convinced that the rate of adherence to the vaccination of carers will join the general rate of the French”.

In a letter circulated on March 5, he called on caregivers to be vaccinated “quickly” in the name of “collective security”, a call taken up on March 7 by seven orders of health professions. In a press release, these orders emphasize that it is an “ethical duty”.

Asked about the possibility of making vaccination compulsory for caregivers, Mr. Véran said he favored “for the moment dialogue and conviction”. He lamented that the AstraZeneca vaccine suffers from a “bad image”, while it is “safe and hyper effective”.

Local delays

In terms of territorial allocation, “when there is an inequity that is created, whatever the reasons, we must obviously correct it”, he also noted, while the contributions of vaccines have been reinforced in Hauts-de-France after many elected officials had denounced a delay.

The minister justified the four weekends of confinement imposed in March in Pas-de-Calais by a “high epidemic trend” associated with “hospital tension and intensive care at the same level as during the second wave”.

“In Seine-Saint-Denis, the hospital occupancy rate is a little different (…) and there is the territorial reality. If you confine Seine-Saint-Denis, you limit the Ile de France”, a- he said in response to criticism of discriminatory treatment inflicted on Pas-de-Calais.

“To” catch up on the Hauts-de-France (…), we will have 6,000 doses every week from this week “, which represents” about 10% more vaccinations possible each week “, for his part indicated Benoît Vallet, director of the Hauts-de-France regional health agency.