PARIS (AP) – While governments across Europe launched their vaccination plans against the virus this weekend with fanfare, France has taken a more discreet approach because of widespread skepticism among its citizens about vaccines.
After the first injections were injected on Sunday into the arm of Mauricette, 78, a woman in a long-term care facility near Paris, President Emmanuel Macron appealed to his compatriots: “We will trust our researchers and doctors. We are the nation of the Enlightenment and the (vaccine pioneer, Louis) Pasteur. Reason and science must guide us. “
Even so, many of his countrymen are concerned. They remember French health scandals in recent decades, including those involving poorly administered vaccines. They fear that coronavirus vaccines have been developed too quickly, aim to bring profit to the big pharmaceutical companies, or risk long-term side effects that the world will only discover in a few years’ time.
France has lost more lives to the virus than most countries, and its economy – one of the largest in the world – has been deeply affected by two virus blocks. Doctors hope that the hesitation of the French vaccine will disappear as more people are vaccinated.
Dr. Jean-Jacques Monsuez, a 65-year-old cardiologist from a nursing home in northeastern Paris, was the second recipient of the vaccine in France on Sunday. After he and several elderly patients were injected, he said: “they are vaccinated, we are vaccinated, we are all in the same boat. And the boat cannot sink.
“And around the boat there is a country that cannot sink.”
France’s far-right and far-left politicians fueled concerns about vaccines, but research commissioned by the national health agency suggests that skepticism also comes from some moderate voters.
Justine Lardon walks with a crutch after suffering serious side effects from a hepatitis B vaccine in 2010 and is hesitating about whether to be vaccinated against the virus. She told the regional newspaper Le Progres that she supports vaccination, but is concerned that doctors do not pay enough attention to individual health issues.
“If (the vaccine) can end the epidemic, that’s great, but I don’t want a vaccine that is a time bomb,” she said.
The French government has been cautious in its messages, eager to ensure that it is not seen as forcing the public to be vaccinated. Instead, authorities are counting on doctors to convince patients that the vaccine serves their interests and that of the country.
Macron reiterated on Sunday that the vaccine will be free – not mandatory.
France’s first vaccination was not broadcast live on television as elsewhere, and no government minister attended. No senior official has said he is getting the vaccine yet; instead, he insists that it must go to the most vulnerable first.
In a country with a large elderly population, including many with cognitive disabilities, the government was pressured by concerned families to develop extensive guidelines to collect the consent of nursing home patients before vaccinating them.
Many Frenchmen, however, are eager to be vaccinated as soon as they can.
“I am very excited,” said Mauricette when told that she was the first in France to get the vaccine. “You are a star,” said the doctor who administered it, after gently folding Mauricette’s sleeve over the small bandage on his arm.
“We don’t need to convince you. She said ‘yes, I am ready for anything to prevent this disease,’ ”said Dr. Samir Tine, head of geriatric services at his clinic in Sevran, northeast of Paris.
“It’s an important day,” said Tine. “We are very excited to have a new weapon at our disposal and we are very excited to rediscover our normal lives.”
France reported the highest number of virus infections in Western Europe and among the highest death rates, with 62,573 lives lost. Nearly a third died in nursing homes, so the government decided to give the vaccine first to the elderly, as well as some medical workers at risk.
Noting that infections in France are increasing again in some regions, particularly among elderly people in rural areas, Health Minister Olivier Veran warned in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche newspaper published on Sunday that pressure on hospitals could begin to grow again, and said the government does not. t discarding a third block.
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