Paris (AFP)

Open to people over 50 on Monday, the Covid-19 vaccination campaign is progressing against a backdrop of the epidemic's slowdown, but it still faces mistrust around the AstraZeneca product, whose future in the vaccine strategy is more and more blurry.

From Monday, the vaccination centers are open to all over 50 who have found an appointment, without health condition.

On Wednesday, there are adults of all ages who will have been able to find a slot available the day before for the next day.

With 17.8 million first doses injected, or nearly 34% of the adult population, the government hopes to meet its target of 20 million by May 15.

"We will be somewhere between 19.6 and 20.2 million", assured Monday morning on LCI the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, reaffirming the objective of 30 million first injections on June 15.

"If we manage to vaccinate faster than today, we can reach 50% of vaccinated at the beginning of July. And if we were at a low level of circulation, let's dream, 5,000 (cases) per day (against around 20,000 currently) so, yes, we could approach the summer in good conditions ", projected on France Inter the epidemiologist Arnaud Fontanet, member of the scientific council which guides the choices of the government.

- Hot and cold -

Vaccinate more, but with or without AstraZeneca?

Asked about the possibility of extending the vaccine from the Anglo-Swedish laboratory to those under 55, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran seemed to bury the hypothesis by answering "probably no at the present time".

The High Authority for Health (HAS) had decided in mid-March to restrict the use of this vaccine to over 55s only because of rare cases of atypical thrombosis.

Olivier Véran had seized the proceedings at the end of April on a possible authorization for all the volunteers, whatever their age, if they signed a discharge.

This idea therefore seems abandoned after a new weekend when the executive blew hot and cold on this vaccine, the second in France in number of doses delivered, but which is much less used than the product from Pfizer / BioNTech.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Jean Castex urged the population to "get vaccinated with all vaccines, in particular with AstraZeneca".

But if "we must continue to do it because it (the AstraZeneca vaccine) will help us out of the crisis (...) to respond to variants, we see that other vaccines are now more effective" , added Emmanuel Macron, in Strasbourg, after the announcement that the European Union had not yet renewed its contract with the Anglo-Swedish laboratory beyond the month of June.

Olivier Véran specified that the Head of State was answering a question "on the horizon for next year".

"How to hope to encourage people to be vaccinated by the AstraZeneca vaccine by not renewing the contract and saying that it is less effective against variants? Disastrous communication or top-class burial?" on Twitter, epidemiology professor Mahmoud Zureik.

According to a document from the Ministry of Health obtained by AFP, as of May 5, only 54% of the 7.3 million doses of AstraZeneca had been injected in France, against 79% for Moderna, and 89% for Pfizer / BioNTech.

- Less than 5,000 in sheaves -

For his part, Olivier Véran explained that out of 2 million doses of AZ received last week, "700,000 were ordered by liberal doctors, nurses, midwives" to whom this vaccine is directed, 700 to 800,000 are put aside for a second injection and the rest is kept for vaccination centers, which have priority over so-called messenger RNA vaccines, such as those from Pfizer and Moderna.

Nine days before the reopening of terraces, certain shops and other activities in France, the number of positive cases for the coronavirus continues to drop, to less than 20,000 per day.

As a result, the number of patients with Covid-19 in hospitals is decreasing continuously: there were less than 26,000 on Sunday, which had not been the case since March 20, including less than 5,000 patients in health services. resuscitation, a first since March 29.

As of Sunday, 116 new deaths in 24 hours of people with the disease were recorded in hospitals, a total of around 1,500 last week.

A total of 106,421 people infected with the virus have died since the start of the epidemic.

© 2021 AFP