France Meets Goal of 10 Million Covid Vaccinations a Week Early

(Bloomberg) -- France met its target to inoculate 10 million people with a first dose of anti-Covid vaccine on Thursday, a week ahead of the target, as the country endures its third lockdown.

“We are a week ahead over the goal we had set,” French Prime Minister Jean Castex said during a visit to a vaccination center near Paris. The next target is 20 million doses injected by mid-May and then 30 million doses delivered mid-June.

France opened mass vaccination centers across the country this week in a bid to further accelerate the rollout of the shots, a campaign that started slowly after the first vaccine was administered on Dec. 27, mostly due to a shortage of doses and a growing mistrust of the AstraZeneca Plc jab due to a fear of potential lethal side effects. Concern about the shot prompted some people to cancel their vaccination appointment, in hopes of getting an alternative one later.

French President Emmanuel Macron said last week he hopes museums and restaurants’ terraces can re-open by mid-May, thanks to the nationwide lockdown -- the third France has been through -- as well as the first effects from the vaccination campaign.

So far, though, and despite some encouraging signs in the districts which were placed under lockdown ahead of the rest of the country, the situation is still worrying, government spokesman Gabriel Attal said during a press conference, before calling upon the French to keep up their efforts.

“This is not the time to give up,” Attal said after a cabinet meeting. “The vaccine is the direct path to freedom.”

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