France changes its tune on Oxford jab after ‘bad press’ hampers takeup

French doctors have blamed deep domestic scepticism about the Astrazeneca vaccine on the “bad press” it has received, including from Emmanuel Macron who said it was “quasi-ineffective” for the elderly.

The indirect criticism from the French president, who was forced to concede that he would take the jab if necessary last week, came as health regulators said they would make it available to the over-65s, in a country struggling to stem a rise in infections – notably of the “English variant”.

Mr Macron fanned scepticism about the jab developed by the pharmaceutical giant and Oxford University in January, hours before it received a green light from the European Medicines Agency, by saying: “Everything points to thinking it is quasi-ineffective on people older than 65, some say those 60 years or older.”

Since then, French reports of flu-like side effects among dozens of health workers further tarnished its image.

That contributed to a dearth of demand in France, where only 273,000 doses have been administered out of 1.7 million received as of the end of February, health ministry figures state. The country has used 24 per cent of its Astrazeneca doses, according to health ministry officials, compared with 82

per cent for vaccines made by Pfizerbiontech and 37 per cent for those made by Moderna.

“It is true that we are facing issues with Astrazeneca vaccines,” said a health ministry official.

The scepticism prompted Jacques Battistoni, head of the MG France doctors’ union, to denounce the widespread “Astrazeneca bashing” that was causing many vials to go unused.

Alain Fischer, France’s vaccination coordinator, has also complained that the “bad press” the jab has received is “deeply unfair”.

All vaccines combined, France has injected just 3 million people with a first dose and 1.6 million with a second to date. The UK has given at least one dose to more than 21million people.

After talking down the Astrazeneca jab, France has abruptly changed its tune, with Mr Macron urging people to have it.

“If this is the vaccine I’m offered, obviously I would take it,” he said after a European Council meeting on Friday.

On Monday night, Olivier Veron, the French health minister, said that the vaccine would be made available to those aged between 65 and 75 with serious health risks.

The French U-turn came after the publication of a study in Scotland that showed the Astrazeneca jab lowered the chance of being admitted to hospital for four to six weeks by 94 per cent after one shot and was effective in older people.

“The higher health council now considers, as of today, that all three vaccines that we have in France have a remarkable efficacy to protect people against the risk of severe forms of Covid-19,” said the minister.

“As a result, I can announce that from now on people aged 50 and above who have conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure or a history of cancer can be vaccinated with Astrazeneca, including those aged 65 to 74.”

The previous French advice had been for the Uk-swedish company’s vaccine to be given only to people aged 50 to 64 with comorbidities and to healthcare workers.

Those over 75 will continue to receive the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine, Mr Veron added.