Covid-19: the first doses of the vaccine have arrived in France
An employee of the hospital pharmacy pole of the Hospitals of Paris puts away boxes containing the doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer / BioNTech, in the suburbs of Paris, December 26, 2020. AFP - STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN
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The first doses of the vaccine against Covid-19 developed by the American Pfizer and the German BioNTech arrived in France early this Saturday, December 26 and were sent to the Central Pharmacy of the Hospitals of Paris, in the Paris suburbs.
Vaccination operations start in principle tomorrow Sunday.
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Some 19,500 doses of the vaccine contained in 3,900 vials, according to the Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), were transported aboard a refrigerated truck which made the trip
from the Pfizer plant in Puurs, in the north-east of Belgium
.
"
It's historic, these are the very first doses
", rejoiced the head of the hospital pharmacy pole of the Hospitals of Paris, Franck Huet.
And here is the 1st delivery of #vaccines against # Covid19 arriving on French territory.
19,500 doses in 3,900 vials!
pic.twitter.com/rnmX76coeD
- AP-HP (@APHP) December 26, 2020
Vaccination will begin tomorrow Sunday, December 27 (as
throughout the European Union)
in two establishments for the elderly (Ehpad), in Sevran (north of Paris) and Dijon (East).
The larger-scale vaccination campaign for the 7,000 establishments for the elderly, their residents and their caregivers likely to develop severe forms of Covid, will not really start until early 2021. More than 62,000 people have died in France after being infected by the coronavirus.
The
vaccines will then be transported under very close surveillance
to other vaccination centers.
After the warnings of the head of the Interpol Jurgen Stock against the attempts of criminals to obtain them, the trucks which will transport the bottles will be, therefore, escorted by unmarked police cars or drones, if the prefect judges it. necessary.
Their itineraries which will be revealed at the last minute and must have been transmitted to the authorities.
First case of contamination of the new variant in France
The arrival in the EU of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was validated on Monday, December 21 by the European Medicines Agency.
The French green light was then issued Thursday, December 24 by the High Authority of Health (HAS).
The launch of the vaccination campaign is eagerly awaited as a first case of
contamination by the new variant of the coronavirus which appeared in the United Kingdom
was detected in France on Friday, in a Frenchman usually residing across the Channel.
(With AFP)
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See also: Price of vaccines: MEPs contest the opacity of the European Commission
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