Vaccination schedule in France

[PeppermintSoda]

Just reading about the vaccination schedule in France in Le Monde. Seems similar in some ways to ours, but seems their plan is to vaccinate over 50s, plus other vulnerable groups/healthcare, then exposed professions such as teachers/supermarket etc by late Spring. Then onto the rest of the population.

Seems earlier than planned in the UK and I don't think we are prioritising exposed professions other than healthcare are we? Yes they could run behind but so could we. I've pasted it below in English. (My phone translates to English)

www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2020/12/22/quel-est-le-calendrier-de-la-vaccination-contre-le-covid-19-en-france_6064237_3244.html

First stage until the beginning of February
The vaccine campaign would be methodical, said the Minister of Health questioned on BFM-TV . Initially, therefore, accommodation establishments for dependent elderly people (Ehpad) and long-term care units, which have more than 14,000 establishments throughout the country.

This first wave of vaccination will also target professionals working in establishments welcoming the elderly and presenting a high risk.

In all, the first phase of the campaign will affect one million people and will continue through January and probably early February due to the three-week delay between the administration of the two doses of the vaccine.

Second stage between February and March
In a second step, between February and March, vaccination will be extended, "according to the rates of delivery" , to 14 million French people, explained on December 16 the Prime Minister, Jean Castex . These are "people with an age-related risk factor or chronic pathology" and "some health professionals ," he said.

These are, in order of priority, people aged over 75, then people aged 65 to 74, and finally those aged over 50. Next come professionals from the health and medico-social sectors aged 50 and over or with one or more co-morbidities.

Analysis: Covid-19: vaccines under close surveillance
Third stage at the end of spring
Finally, at the end of spring, vaccination will be open, after exposed professionals (health, safety, education, food sector, vulnerable and precarious people, etc.), "to the entire population" , according to the vaccination strategy of the government.

To do this, 200 million vaccines have been pre-ordered by France to vaccinate 100 million people. "1.160 million doses will be on the territory by the end of the year, then 677,000 additional doses around January 5 or 6 and 1.6 million in February" , detailed Mr. Castex on December 16 to l 'National Assembly.

Will vaccines have to be approved country-by-country or at a European Union level?

Will the vaccines receive emergency approval?

Will pharmaceutical companies be granted indemnity as well?

I don't know. Would be interesting to know more about it. I understand the French and German NHS equivalents are better funded than the UK NHS so not sure if they'll have better systems in place to make it more efficient. Hopefully someone knowledgeable will come along

At an EU level. Looks like the Germans don't feel half as optimistic and feel a little hamstrung by the obligation to keep things even.

www.spiegel.de/international/europe/the-planning-disaster-germany-and-europe-could-fall-short-on-vaccine-supplies-a-3db4702d-ae23-4e85-85b7-20145a898abd

It says in the opening of the above Le Monde article "After the green light given on Tuesday by the European Commission, the vaccination campaign should start on Sunday"

True, yes

[quote FourTeaFallOut]At an EU level. Looks like the Germans don't feel half as optimistic and feel a little hamstrung by the obligation to keep things even.

www.spiegel.de/international/europe/the-planning-disaster-germany-and-europe-could-fall-short-on-vaccine-supplies-a-3db4702d-ae23-4e85-85b7-20145a898abd[/quote]
Interesting article. Seems the EU made a bit of a mess of vaccine procurement. They weren't even going to authorise any vaccines until after Christmas until Merkel gave them a kick up the collective behind! I don't blame the Germans for being pissed off, especially as the Pfizer vaccine was developed in Germany. So much is contingent on the Oxford vaccine being approved.

Anecdotally from Germany (BW):
We just got an e-mail asking for our placet to have DMil vaccinated in her care home by a "mobile vacc. squad" (my translation)

So just the Pfizer vaccine? I don't see how what they are saying can be reliable given the the German health minister expects an initial volume of 400,000 doses and only 11-13 million to follow between then and March.

Given the France has almost 20 million fewer people than Germany, that won't be getting more than that.

Like us, they have their fingers crossed for the AstraZeneca vaccine but they won't be allowed to race ahead of their neighbours.

That Spiegel article is very interesting FourTea - particularly how gloomy they are on the Oxford vaccine. Interesting that they don't see 60% effective as good enough. I think most people in the UK will accept it just to get the country back on it's feet sooner, but perhaps Germans have a tendency to be more perfectionist.

Yeah, I was struck by that but we do know that it prevent illness and death which is really what we need to focus on first. So long as we can reach the bulk of the population that would be enough to swing the balance and I'm quite optimistic about the way things will be scaled up to include using stadia in the New Year.

I thought the COVAX agreement meant that vaccines were to be shared among all countries, so the most vulnerable in every nation could be vaccinated before rich countries could buy up enough vaccine to inoculated the rest of their population. I'm surprised France (or any other country) will be in a position to offer their less vulnerable residents a vaccine by late spring, as it seems highly unlikely that all the world's vulnerable would be vaccinated by then. Am I missing something?

Consisting they haven’t even got a vaccine approved yet and any vaccine they do has to be equally shared across the EU they are either being very optimistic or we are being pessimistic. I wouldn’t worry, we are way ahead of the EU, have already vaccinated half a million, have ordered way more than other countries and if the Oxford vaccine is approved we will be first in line as it’s our vaccine. We are in a much better position than other countries. We may have made a mess of our covid response but the vaccine is something we are leading on.

@Mousehole10

Consisting they haven’t even got a vaccine approved yet and any vaccine they do has to be equally shared across the EU they are either being very optimistic or we are being pessimistic. I wouldn’t worry, we are way ahead of the EU, have already vaccinated half a million, have ordered way more than other countries and if the Oxford vaccine is approved we will be first in line as it’s our vaccine. We are in a much better position than other countries. We may have made a mess of our covid response but the vaccine is something we are leading on.

The Pfizer vaccine was approved by the EU on Monday.

Agree with the rest of your post though. The UK has made a mess of many things, but thus far they seem to be managing vaccine procurement and roll-out efficiently. Fingers crossed for the Oxford vaccine! There is talk that it will be approved next week.

@IcedPurple I must have missed that! Good news though for the EU.

[quote Mousehole10]@IcedPurple I must have missed that! Good news though for the EU.[/quote]
They were originally supposed to meet to approve it next Tuesday - not like there's a global health emergency or anything - but then Merkel told them to get their act in gear!

My grandparents had the vaccine yesterday, they were very impressed with how it was done and felt safe and looked after. I don’t think you can fault the rollout here!

We are in a much better position than other countries
That's good news. Let's see how it rolls out to the different groups. I agree with the French about exposed professions such as teachers/supermarket being prioritised over other non vulnerable under 50s

@PeppermintSoda I guess no one really knows what the best strategy is for vaccine priority but scientists have come up without priority list so hopefully it does make sense. I’m hoping by the time they get to the over 50s there will have been large scale roll out of the Oxford vaccine and the next groups won’t be too far behind.

I don't think we have any of the plans for the phase two of the vaccine roll out - so that may well prioritise those in exposed professions.

That would be good. I'm not a teacher but I feel that teachers are not always supported and valued as they should be by the government and they are working in very unsafe conditions at the moment. If nothing else it might give them a morale boost to know their safety was being considered in this country too.