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* Elderly targeted first, other groups to follow throughout
2021
* Vaccination will not be compulsory, Macron says
* Huge task awaiting Europe
(Adds details, background)
By Matthias Blamont
PARIS, Nov 24 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron
said on Tuesday a vaccine to prevent COVID-19, the illness
caused by the novel coronavirus, could start being administered
as soon as the end of the year in France if approved by
regulators.
"We are going to organise a swift and massive vaccination
campaign," Macron said in a televised address to the nation
detailing how the country would start easing a lockdown this
weekend.
"We will very likely, and pending authorisation by health
authorities, start vaccination of the most vulnerable
populations, hence the elderly, as soon as the end of December,
early January," he said, adding other population groups would be
offered the vaccination consecutively.
Vaccination would not be compulsory, Macron said.
Governments in Europe are working to map out what could be
the biggest vaccination scheme in decades.
The task appears particularly daunting in France, which has
one of the world's lowest levels of trust in vaccines.
According to an Ipsos poll for the World Economic Forum,
only 59% of French respondents said they would get a COVID-19
vaccine if it became available, compared with 67% in the United
States and 85% in Britain.
Macron said a scientific committee would be established to
monitor vaccinations and that a group of citizens would also
take part to ensure transparency.
Officials at the Health Ministry said a task force
supervised by the prime minister's office was currently in
charge of the logistics aspects and that equipment to store
vaccines at very low temperatures had been purchased.
A series of other public bodies would also offer advice on
how to conduct vaccinations in the coming months, they said.
TIMING QUESTIONS
The time frame outlined by Macron is ambitious given the
delays usually considered by safety agencies to process and
assess data before approving a product and the subsequent time
needed on the ground for deployment.
Macron's comments echoed those of the European Medicines
Agency (EMA), whose new chief was quoted as saying on Tuesday
the organisation could produce a scientific opinion on COVID-19
vaccines seeking regulatory approval by the end of the year in a
best-case scenario.
But it not yet clear when exactly agencies will make a final
decision, even though they are considering data as it becomes
available.
British drugmaker AstraZeneca followed U.S. rivals
Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc on Monday in
publishing successful trial data for its COVID-19
vaccine.
Interim late-stage trial results for Russia's Sputnik V
vaccine published on Nov. 11 showed its shot was 92% effective.
There is no internationally approved vaccine to prevent
COVID-19, which has killed more than 1.4 million people and
disrupted the world economy.
The European Union has so far secured deals with Sanofi
and GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson
, AstraZeneca, CureVac, Pfizer and
BioNTech as well as Moderna.
With 1.9 billion doses expected at this stage to reach the
EU, France aims to secure about 295 million doses, according to
a government source.
(Reporting by Matthias Blamont; Additional reporting by Michel
Rose; Editing by Peter Cooney)
