Unfounded fears a roadblock for the French

THE French government has come under withering fire over fresh obstacles to vaccination, including the creation of a 35member “citizens’ council” to monitor and advise the government on the inoculations.

The body, made up of members of the public drawn at random, is part of the response to the “yellow vest” protest movement of 2018-19 and is intended to counter fears that the state is forcing a dangerous vaccine on the French people – who are the most sceptical of vaccines in Europe, polls show.

Bureaucracy and elaborate measures needing the written consent of the population were blamed for what doctors and opposition politicians have called a fiasco since December 27, when some European nations began injections.

“The precautions are excessive,” the National Academy of Medicine said.

By Monday (local time), only 500 people had been given the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in France but Germany had inoculated 200,000.

France initially limited inoculations to care staff and residents of retirement homes.

President Emmanuel Macron, who recovered from COVID-19 over Christmas, cracked the whip on Sunday, ordering rapid progress.

Medical staff aged 50 and over are being vaccinated and vaccine centres will open in cities this month.

Although coronavirus has killed more than 65,000 people in France, the seventh highest national toll, more than 60 per cent of citizens say they will refuse the vaccine – a five-point rise in a month, according to the Ipsos Global poll.