One in two French people is now fully vaccinated against Covid-19, announced Tuesday, July 27 in the evening, the Directorate General of Health.
A proportion which remains far from that which should make it possible to achieve collective immunity - around about 90%.
The French have a "complete vaccination schedule" who have received two doses of Moderna, AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccine - one dose if they have been positive for Covid-19 - or one dose of the Janssen vaccine.
"Since the start of the vaccination campaign in France, 40,719,515 people have received at least one injection (60.4% of the total population) and 34,026,476 people now have a complete vaccination schedule (50.5% of the total population). total population) ", indicates the DGS in a press release.
The milestone of 40 million French people who received at least one injection was crossed on Monday, one month ahead of the initial schedule.
The government is now targeting 50 million first-time vaccines by the end of August.
According to the Ministry of Health, France, which was behind its European neighbors, has "reduced the gap with Italy and Belgium".
It remains behind Spain and Portugal but is in "a very rapid catching-up phase".
Target the most fragile and the "hesitant"
Faced with the outbreak of contaminations which regularly exceed 20,000 new daily cases - a development which can be explained by the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant - the government is continuing the race for vaccination and targeting the most vulnerable and hesitant people.
"Three million appointments will be open in the next ten days," said Minister of Health Olivier Véran who accompanied Prime Minister Jean Castex, visiting Seine-Saint-Denis on Tuesday to convince residents to be vaccinated .
"It is urgent to be vaccinated", hammered on France Inter Alain Fischer, who advises the government on this subject.
According to him, attention must be paid to the "hesitant", many of whom are "people in great precariousness or cultural groups who do not understand official explanations" as well.
These audiences are targeted by the "go to" system which provides for multiple initiatives: vaccibus, campaigns at the foot of apartment buildings, vaccination in shopping centers, in pharmacies, targeted telephone calls, etc.
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The authorities also want to focus on the vaccination of over 80s - this leveled off but has started to increase again, with now more than 82% of first-time recipients.
For people with co-morbidities, coverage is also improving, with 75% protected with a first dose.
But the government objective is to reach 85% for these populations which, because they present risks, could clog hospitals.
Faced with the Delta variant, "we have no choice", we need "stronger incentives than those which were (until now) in the field of explanation", underlined Professor Fischer.
Among these measures is the government bill providing for compulsory vaccination for caregivers and the general health pass for bars and restaurants, cultural venues and transport.
A text that has aroused strong resistance and which should come into force between August 5 and 10 - "perhaps closer to August 10", according to Olivier Véran.
Fewer serious forms compared to previous waves
According to Alain Fisher, this variant makes the incidence rate "double every week" - the average weekly number of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
This climbed to 189 on the national average, or nearly four times the alert threshold (50).
According to Public Health France, 26,871 contaminations were recorded on Tuesday July 27, the highest daily toll since the end of April, while hospitalizations in intensive care have risen slightly, with nearly 978 Covid patients in these services, against 876 a week ago.
The outbreak is very visible in tourist areas (Atlantic coast, Alpes-Maritimes, Hérault and Corsica) where many prefectures have reimposed restrictions including the mask on the outside.
However, we observe "a decorrelation between hospitalizations and diagnoses," said the Minister of Health on Tuesday, explaining that thanks to vaccination, "there are fewer patients hospitalized for severe forms of Covid in our country than there are had some during the previous waves, for an identical number of infected ".
The extension of the health pass announced by Emmanuel Macron on July 12 caused an increase in the number of appointments for a first vaccination.
Based on an Ifop poll, the Ministry of Health points out that the vaccination adherence rate increased to 86% on July 22, against 81% in a previous study.
With AFP
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