The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, estimated on Tuesday that at least "four million people" were still waiting for a vaccine against Covid-19 in priority age groups.

The municipalities which have fulfilled their priority vaccination objective are invited by the Minister to extend their campaign to priority audiences in the surrounding area.

"Four million people are waiting for a vaccine," Health Minister Olivier Véran said on Tuesday, recalling the importance of prioritizing, even if "some large metropolitan vaccination centers have vaccination slots that remain open".

"If we set a target of 80% of an age group that must be vaccinated to be protected, there are still 4.3 million French people who are subject to vaccination who have not yet been vaccinated", said Olivier Véran after a visit to the ARS Île-de-France crisis unit in Saint-Denis, recalling his desire to vaccinate "by prioritizing the age group".

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Places available in large vaccination centers

Asked about appointments remaining available at the vaccination center installed at the Stade de France, the minister said to make "the observation that there were a certain number of large centers, especially the large metropolitan vaccination centers, which have slots of vaccination which remain open ", in particular in Seine-Saint-Denis or in the Val d'Oise.

But for him, this situation in no way reflects the situation of other departments, "perhaps less metropolitan and in which there are still older people waiting to be vaccinated".

These availabilities would rather "reflect the increase in vaccine deliveries, in particular messenger RNA vaccines in Île-de-France and the 20% more slots that could be opened compared to what had been expected".

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"It is not because a municipality would have vaccinated 70% or 80% of its elderly, that it should start offering vaccination to people who have much lower risks of developing serious forms", a he added, inviting these municipalities to bring in eligible people from the surrounding area.