French vote of confidence for UK jab
FRANCE’S health minister Olivier Veran has given the Oxford/ AstraZeneca vaccine his vote of confidence by having the jab.
The French president Emmanuel Macron had suggested the Oxford vaccine was ‘quasi-ineffective’ in older age groups – a criticism that saw him labelled an anti-vaxxer.
But Mr Veran, 0, who was offered the jab as a qualified doctor, had no such qualms – and also dismissed concerns from a study suggesting the vaccine provided ‘minimal’ protection against infections caused by the South African variant.
Posting a photo on Twitter, Mr Veran wrote: ‘The AstraZeneca vaccine reinforces and amplifies our vaccination strategy. We do our best to prevent the spread of variants.’
France has received 270,000 doses of the Oxford vaccine and is due to receive another 300,000 in the next
8 hours after the EU resolved its row with manufacturer AstraZeneca. The country has vaccinated just 2.1million people – compared with more than 12million in the UK – but plans to vaccinate all firefighters and care workers in the next 1 days.
It has also banned home-made masks in schools amid growing concern about variants of the virus, but is resisting pressure for a third lockdown after the number of daily cases fell for a fourth day to 19,175.
The EU has licensed the Oxford vaccine for all age groups but Portugal has restricted its use in the over-65s. The country saw a record number of intensive care patients on Friday, some of whom have been airlifted to Germany.
Meanwhile, Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis – criticised for taking selfies with supporters on a trip in December – is facing a backlash over pictures of him having lunch with 30 others at a beachside house.