Jean Castex said on Saturday that he hoped to exceed the target of 10 million people vaccinated against Covid-19 by April 15, while deploring that "the labs" are doing "some misery in meeting delivery deadlines".

On the occasion of a visit to a vaccination center in Saint-Maixent-L'Ecole in the Deux-Sèvres department, Prime Minister Jean Castex declared that a "heavy challenge" would arise in the country in April with a large number of doses of Covid-19 vaccine to be inoculated.

"We have set the target of 10 million vaccinations by April 15 and I do not despair of exceeding it. But we have to be careful because the labs do us some trouble in respecting delivery deadlines. adapt ", he continued, while AstraZeneca has just announced further delays.

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"AstraZeneca regrets to announce a drop in deliveries of Covid-19 vaccines to the European Union despite its tireless work to accelerate the supply," said a spokesperson for the group on Saturday.

Much criticized for the slow deliveries of vaccines in Europe and the delays of the AstraZeneca group, the European Commission, which has negotiated the contracts on behalf of its 27 member states, announced Thursday that it was extending its mechanism until the end of June. control of vaccine exports and expects deliveries to ramp up in the second quarter.

Start of patient transfers

The day before, Jean Castex had admitted that the hospital situation was "extremely tense in Île-de-France" due to the increase in the number of people in intensive care, and estimated that it was necessary to "be ready at any time to take additional "measures.

For now, the executive has ruled out the reconfinement on weekends or full in Ile-de-France.

The government has already announced significant transfers of Covid-19 patients from Île-de-France from which three have already been evacuated to other regions, while continuing to accelerate vaccination.

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The head of government will be Saturday afternoon in Seine-Saint-Denis, a department from which the first patients were evacuated, and where he will visit the Saint-Denis vaccination center and the Ramsay Santé private hospital d'Aulnay-sous-Bois.

On Friday, the director general of the Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), Martin Hirsch, said that there was "between 20 and 30% of deprogramming" of non-urgent activities to make room for patients Covid, adding: "It is played in bed close".

France passed the barrier of 90,000 deaths from Covid-19 on Friday since it began a year ago.