The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, on January 28, 2021, in Paris.

(illustration) -

Stephane Lemouton-POOL / SIPA

  • By increasing the number of public statements, has the Minister of Health contradicted himself on the anti-Covid-19 vaccination schedule planned by the government?

  • According to a montage relayed on social networks, Olivier Véran would have said in the space of a few hours that France would not be able to vaccinate its fragile audiences by the summer, but that it could vaccinate 70 million people by the end of August.

  • The minister made these remarks on January 21 during two separate speeches, without contradicting himself, according to his cabinet, which makes the difference between “vaccine target” and “vaccination capacity”.

“Olivier Véran has achieved the feat of contradicting himself in one day!

“According to a visual shared on Facebook and Twitter, the Minister of Health would have launched two contrary statements only a few hours apart.

Olivier Veran has achieved the feat of contradicting himself in one day!



😎😎😎 pic.twitter.com/yJEzZKanFr

- The day will come when the people will conquer (@NaphtalineLeBon) January 25, 2021

The first, pronounced on January 21 in the morning, during his passage in the Senate: "France could not have vaccinated all the fragile public by the summer".

And the second, the same evening, on the television news set of TF1: “We are able to vaccinate 70 million people by the end of August.

"



What to suggest that the country would have gone, in half a day, from a lack of doses for its citizens most vulnerable to the virus to a supply greater in number to its 66.7 million inhabitants.

FAKE OFF

The two quotes lent to Olivier Véran are authentic: he kept them well on January 21.

First during his hearing in the Senate on the extension of the state of health emergency until June 1, as can be seen on the Public Senate website and in the video extract concerned.

“We are targeting 15 million people vaccinated by before the summer.

This represents a large part of the population at risk of severe forms.

Although, if we add all the people who are chronically ill, plus people aged 60 and over, we are closer to 25 to 30 million people.

This means that even with the best organization and all the supplies that would arrive on time, we could not have vaccinated all the vulnerable groups by the summer, ”the Minister of Health affirmed.

The same evening, on TF1, in response to a question from Gilles Bouleau on vaccination (from 11'25 in the replay): “What is important for the French to know is that we are able to vaccinate 1.3, or 1.4 million French people at the end of the month of the end of January.

Probably 4 million at the end of February, 9 million at the end of March, 20 million at the end of April, 30 million at the end of May, 43 million at the end of June - it's going up!

- 57 million at the end of July and 70 million, that is to say the entire French population, at the end of August.

"

Contacted by

20 Minutes

, Olivier Véran's office ensures that the two projections put forward by the Minister are not contradictory: “We must differentiate between the vaccine target and the vaccination capacity.

The vaccine target, as with any vaccination campaign, are the people who must absolutely be vaccinated to protect them from a virus: this target represents 15 million people, including very fragile, elderly people… ”

In addition, "the vaccination capacity is the number of vaccinations that we will be able to do, taking into account the dose supply schedule contracted with the various laboratories, if each vaccine obtains its marketing authorization. .

This capacity is 70 million vaccinations by the end of August, making it possible to cover the entire population, ”he continues.

While recalling “that the most vulnerable people are vaccinated as a priority [and that] at this stage, those eligible and therefore priority for vaccination represent just over 8 million people.

"

A particularly optimistic projection

Finally, the Minister of Health's office specifies that the global capacity of 70 million vaccinations is not synonymous with obligation: "This does not mean that the entire French population will have to be vaccinated: children are not to be this stage concerned, and adherence to vaccination is not yet unanimous.

But if we had to vaccinate everyone, we would have the doses to do it.

"

Provided that France receives the doses of vaccines ordered on time, as Olivier Véran emphasized on TF1: "[All this in the case where] all the vaccines we have ordered are validated by the health authorities European and global.

"

The forecasts of the Minister of Health seem however particularly optimistic: the president of the Scientific Council, Jean-François Delfraissy, estimated for his part at the beginning of the week, in

Liberation

, that France would be able "to vaccinate of the order of 6 to 8 million of the most fragile and elderly people by mid-April ”, and that it could“ probably vaccinate 30 to 35 million people before the end of the summer.

"

Or half less than the figures put forward by the Minister of Health at the same time… while the Moderna laboratory has just announced that it will deliver fewer doses than expected to France.

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