(Adds background)
PARIS, Feb 1 (Reuters) - The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine,
which was approved by the European Commission last week, will
start arriving in France next week at the latest, French
European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune said on Monday.
"From the end of this week, latest early next week,
AstraZeneca vaccine doses will start arriving in France... We
will be able to start vaccinating (with it)," Beaune said on
France Inter radio.
France has so far approved vaccines developed by
Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.
"There are also other vaccines arriving, notably Johnson &
Johnson. From the month of February we will be able to
have the authorisation and the doses," Beaune said.
On Jan. 30, France had injected nearly 1.5 million first
doses, while over 45,000 people have received a second shot,
health ministry data show.
(Reporting by GV De Clercq; editing by Jason Neely and Gareth
Jones)