A few days before the start of the school year, Olivier Véran hammered home on Thursday the importance of vaccination in the fight against Covid-19.
With the arrival of the Delta variant, in metropolitan France, "we could have expected the worst, to experience a saturation of hospitals and, yet, it did not happen," said the Minister of Health.
“We avoided the worst,” he said.
He compared this situation to that of the West Indies and French Polynesia, where the delay in the vaccination campaign "will have killed and kills" again, "doubt kills", insisted the minister.
The fourth wave, which started in July, is "an epidemic which mainly kills unvaccinated people, hospitals are filled with unvaccinated people, deaths affect unvaccinated people”.
Vaccinate the 2 million most vulnerable French people, "the priority"
Olivier Véran estimated that the objective of 50 million first-time vaccinated will be reached in the first week of September, but the government "wishes to go beyond", since 57 million French people are eligible.
Nearly 60% of adolescents (12/17 years old) are already vaccinated, and “for the remaining 40%, it will be facilitated” by the campaign planned in schools at the start of the school year.
But for the minister, "the top priority is the 2 million elderly or sick French people who have not yet been vaccinated".
He called for further strengthening the “go to” mechanisms, also asking all caregivers (doctors, nurses) to offer vaccination to their patients who have not yet been vaccinated in conjunction with communities and associations.
He announced the sending of targeted letters to the vulnerable not yet vaccinated.
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