In hopes of stemming the fifth wave, the government allows pharmacists “who wish” to open every Sunday in December and January so that they can vaccinate against Covid-19. “France is one of the countries in the world which vaccinates the most in daily booster vaccination, yesterday more than 650,000 French people received a booster injection “, recalled the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, on France 2 this Thursday adding that it is necessary “go faster, harder, there is an emergency “.
“We multiply the number of centers who can vaccinate: liberals, pharmacists, doctors, physiotherapists, nursing midwives who can vaccinate in town receive this week more than 4 million doses of messenger RNA vaccines “, he said. “To simplify and amplify this recall campaign”, Olivier Véran indicated that he signed a “stopped” who “go authorize and encourage pharmacists who can and wish to open now every Sunday without limitation in the months of December and January “.
National white plan
France recorded on Wednesday a record number of contaminations recorded in 24 hours, 72,000 according to the Minister of Health. “We had not known this since the start of the pandemic “, ahe stressed. The previous record, around 70,000, dated back to early November 2020.
In hospitals, six regions have already reactivated the white plan, including Ile-de-France on Wednesday, making it possible in particular to deprogram operations and reassign staff to critical care services. “The white plan will also probably be national within a few days since each region one after the other triggers “, said Olivier Véran.
Peak reached “by end of month”
“The epidemic does not particularly affect one region, it is national, all territories are absolutely affected and there is now a patient who goes into intensive care every 6 minutes in our country“, he said. According to the minister, the peak of contamination of this fifth wave could be reached”by the end of the month“if the French apply a”strict compliance with barrier gestures “ and limit gatherings.
“We are seeing a slowdown in epidemic growth: we were at + 60% of cases in one week, then + 40%, now it’s between + 25 and + 30%”, he said, calling on the French to “multiply daily efforts “. “We do not need to impose restrictions, since the French know how to protect themselves from the virus: it is the aperitif with friends that we will cancel even if it is the end of the year period, this are company aperitifs, these moments of conviviality, moments of relaxation, when you take off the mask too easily because you feel safe “, he added. According to him, compliance with these measures has already had a “braking effect “ that need “amplify”.