No suspension or change of organization. The Janssen Covid Vaccine, from Johnson & Johnson, will be “administered under the same conditions“than expected in France, for people over the age of 55,” government spokesman Gabriel Attal said on April 14 after the Council of Ministers.

He will be “distributed and administered under the same conditions as currently planned for the AstraZeneca vaccine“, he added.

“Pause” in the United States

This clarification comes the day after the announcement of the American regulator, which has decided to “pause” in the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the United States, the time to investigate the appearance of six serious cases blood clots among the 6.8 million people vaccinated.

The laboratory immediately decided to delay the deployment of its single-dose vaccine in Europe, where it was the fourth to obtain authorization from the European Medicines Agency last month. And the latter should speak again about the Janssen vaccine “next week“.

200,000 doses delivered in France

But the first promised doses have already arrived in France. “We received the first delivery of vaccines (Johnson & Johnson), that is to say 200,000 doses which arrived at the beginning of the week in our territory and which are in the process of being sent to the city medicine and the pharmacies“.

It remains to be seen whether the 442,000 doses initially expected for the week of April 19 and the next 1.6 million doses expected for the week of April 26 will be delivered as planned.

A reaffirmed “confidence” in AstraZeneca

At the same time, the government spokesperson reaffirmed the “trust“of the French authorities towards the AstraZeneca vaccine, which uses adenovirus technology like Janssen. A reverse position from Denmark, which has announced that it will definitively renounce the AstraZeneca vaccine. This vaccine”shows very good results, (it) effectively protects against severe forms“, insisted Gabriel Attal.

AstraZeneca benefits from a favorable opinion from the European regulator and the World Health Organization (WHO), which agree on the fact that its benefit / risk balance is largely favorable in the face of the dangers posed by covid.