The vaccination campaign gained momentum on Saturday, with mass vaccination operations in several regions.

For the government, under strong political pressure, such an acceleration is crucial to try to avoid a new national containment. 

Faced with the spread of the coronavirus epidemic and variants, the executive is banking on vaccination and accelerating its campaign, which gained momentum this weekend.

Mass vaccination operations have thus been launched in several regions where the virus is actively circulating, mainly targeting people over 75 years of age.

It is almost a "vaccinthon" that the government has launched, which hopes to succeed in avoiding a national reconfinement. 

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Coronavirus: follow the evolution of the situation on Sunday March 7

More than 100 centers open this weekend in Île-de-France

Illustration of this acceleration: throughout the Île-de-France region, more than 100 vaccination centers were opened this weekend to sell more than 50,000 doses, while four military hospitals have opened vaccination centers in Metz, Toulon, Saint-Mandé (Val-de-Marne) and Villenave d'Ornon (Gironde).

The government's goal is to reach the first 10 million injections by mid-April, 20 million in mid-May and 30 million this summer.

Currently, less than 3.4 million French people have received at least one dose.

And the government is struggling enough to have hundreds of thousands of unused doses, not least because not all caregivers have taken the plunge yet, or because some doctors have not gone to get the doses planned for their patients. 

Pressure from the opposition

Result: this is the first time that we vaccinate so much on weekends.

It must be said that the political pressure is strong.

Not an opposition official does an interview without saying "speed up" or even "vaccinate day and night if necessary".

However, the government has been able to count on an alignment of the planets since vaccines are available, which has not always been the case, thanks to a large supply of AstraZeneca vaccines and an opinion from the High Authority of Health which validates its use. for over 65s.

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"We had better show the muscles," slips an adviser to the executive.

And for Emmanuel Macron, the stake is real: succeeding the vaccination campaign is an imperative with the approach of the presidential election of 2022. Because as summarized one minister: "People are fed up".