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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider France to open 35 vaccine supersites 'in coming days'

France to open 35 vaccine supersites 'in coming days'

Published Mar 23, 2021 05:57 pm

France will open 35 COVID-19 mass vaccination centers "in the coming days" to ramp up the pace of inoculations, a government minister said Tuesday, amid criticism the campaign is too slow.

"We are working with local representatives to put them in place," Industry Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher told BFMTV channel.

People wait after receiving a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at the vaccination center of Valenciennes, on March 23, 2021. (Photo by Yoan VALAT / POOL / AFP / MANILA BULLETIN)

France had previously baulked at setting up supersites to rapidly dispense vaccines in large numbers after a failed experiment with "vaccinodromes" during the H1N1 swine flu pandemic in 2009.

Until now, the jabs have been dispensed in community halls, hospitals, doctor's surgeries and pharmacies.

But with hospitals struggling to cope with a third wave of infections Health Minister Olivier Veran on Monday announced that France would follow the lead of countries like the US and Britain that have turned stadiums into inoculation sites.

"The army's health service will work on developing a certain number of large vaccination centres," he said, adding that there would be at least 35 across the country.

After an excruciatingly slow start in late December and January, France's vaccination campaign has sped up.

But with more infectious COVID-19 variants spreading rapidly, the caseload has risen again, prompting the government to place part of the country, including Paris, under partial lockdown last weekend.

So far, France has administered some 8.8 million doses, compared with over 30 million in Britain.

The death toll from the virus in France stands at 92,648.

On Monday, the government announced that Labour Minister Elisabeth Borne had been hospitalised with COVID-19, a week after testing positive for the virus.

Borne, 59, is under medical supervision in a hospital in the Paris region and her condition is improving, her ministry said in a statement.

President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for COVID-19 in December and self-isolated for a week while he was sick, and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire contracted the virus in September.

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