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PARIS, April 11 (Reuters) - France will lengthen the period
between the first and second shots of mRNA anti-COVID vaccines
to six weeks from four weeks as of April 14 to accelerate the
inoculation campaign, Health Minister Olivier Veran told the JDD
newspaper on Sunday.
Although France's top health authority advised a six-week
period between the two shots in January in order to stretch
supplies, the government at the time said there was insufficient
data on how well the vaccines performed with a longer interval.
France could safely do so now because it was vaccinating a
younger age group, Veran said.
"(It) will allow us to vaccinate more quickly without
reducing protection," the minister told the paper.
France has approved use of the Pfizer/BioNTech
and Moderna mRNA vaccines.
Veran also said that from Monday the AstraZeneca
vaccine would be made available to all over-55s and not just
those with serious pre-existing conditions.
After a glacial start, France's vaccine rollout is hitting
its stride, reaching a target of 10 million first doses a week
ahead of a mid-April target. The government aims to deliver
another ten million first shots by mid-May.
Johnson & Johnson would deliver its first 200,000
doses destined for France on Monday, a week early, Veran said.
President Emmanuel Macron, who was forced by a spiralling
infection rate and overloaded healthcare system to impose a
third nationwide lockdown, is counting on an accelerated vaccine
rollout to allow a gradual reopening of the country from the
middle of next month.
The numbers in intensive care continue to rise and France
will almost certainly cross the 100,000 deaths threshold this
week. It reported over 43,000 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday and
said there were now 5,769 patients receiving critical care.
However, Veran said there were signs that a new lockdown was
beginning to slow the infection rate.
"It remains very high," Veran told the JDD. "We can expect
that after a period of stabilisation comes the fall. But for
that, we must keep going."
(Reporting by Richard Lough; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
