For days, our doctor’s surgery has been flooded with desperate calls for the jab
FRANCE DAILY CASES 41,869 NUMBER JABBED 7.2M % OF POPULATION 10.6%
FIRST, President Emmanuel Macron dismissed the AstraZeneca vaccine as ‘quasi-ineffective’ in people over-65. Then opinion polls suggested that up to 60 per cent of French people do not want the vaccine. Adding to the problem, the authorities suspended use of the AZ jab over fears of blood clots. Finally, that decision was overturned but health officials ruled that only people aged 55 and over should get the AstraZeneca vaccine.
France has inoculated only 10.6 people in every 100.
FRANCOISE Durand, a GP in the
Morbihan department in Brittany, says: ‘I have people crying out for vaccines and been flooded with desperate calls. I’ve appealed to the Ministry but there has been insufficient communication.
‘Today, I have ten doses available but there are 100 or more people waiting. There is very little faith in the government. People point the finger at Macron and say he has admitted that he has failed them. It is intolerable in a country like ours which prides itself on the excellence of its health service.’
Retired Breton farmer Franck Lelievre spoke to the MoS while waiting at a surgery for a jab. He said: ‘I’m worried because I have a heart condition and high blood pressure. If I get Covid, it’s probably curtains for me.
‘I’ve been asking for a jab for weeks. There just haven’t been any available. Hopefully this morning I’ll get one.
‘You English seem to be ahead of France. Maybe it’s something to do with Brexit.’
Sylvie, a 49-year-old shop assistant, said: ‘It’s a national scandal. We’ve been living with this evil virus for a year. Finally they’ve developed an antidote but we can’t get it.’ Marc Droguet, deputy mayor of Redon, a town of 11,000 inhabitants, said: ‘Yes, we are behind England but this is not a a rugby match. There are no winners and losers. In the EU, we must work together to solve this crisis together. That’s what Europe is about. Whereas the English see fit to go it alone, we prefer to work together. Together we
stand. Divided we fall.