RIBECOURT-LA-TOUR, France (Reuters) – Renaud Georges was just days away from getting his first coronavirus vaccine, an injection he hoped would allow him to hug his grandchildren for the first time in months. Then he received a text message that the appointment was canceled.
“It is a big disappointment,” he said. “For us, the vaccine is the only way out of this miserable crisis.”
The retired professor said that due to a shortage of vaccine doses, the next available spot was March 10. His wife Annie, who two months before she turns 75 and in good health is not seen as a priority, does not know when she will be inoculated.
“We miss not being able to hug our children, to hold them in our arms. That’s it for us, ”said Georges.
Europe faces a shortage of vaccines because Pfizer and Moderna have temporarily reduced supplies, while AstraZeneca said it would reduce the volumes allocated to the European Union in the first quarter due to production problems.
The scarcity led the northern region of Hauts-de-France, where the Georges live, the metropolitan area of Paris and at least one other region, which together represent a third of France’s population, to postpone the distribution of the first doses.
General practitioner Anthony Haro said he was forced to temporarily close the vaccine center near Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, which was open for nine days after the local hospital that provided the vaccine said its supplies were depleted.
“We made promises to our patients, and those promises brought comfort,” he said. “We have very fragile patients now, like those undergoing chemotherapy, who we cannot vaccinate because the doses are reserved for second round inoculations.”
“NO REGRETS”
France does not regret the European vaccine procurement process, said European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune.
“The idea that France or Germany may receive the vaccine, but not their neighbor does not make sense,” said the minister.
Local authorities blame the government for the chaotic implantation of the vaccine. They say he panicked after the campaign started slowly and made the vaccine available to many people quickly.
Health Minister Olivier Veran said there were no cancellations, just postponed consultations and blamed pharmaceutical companies’ supplies below expectations. He also said that the increase in the number of vaccination centers has resulted in more consultations than doses in some places.
In mid-January, the mayor of the 17th arrondissement of Paris, Geoffroy Boulard, struggled to find doctors, nurses and administrative staff to run a third vaccination center in his district that could deliver at least 1,200 COVID vaccines a day.
Three days before the center opened, city officials informed Boulard that there were not enough doses of the Pfizer vaccine. “It looks like we’re being taken by idiots,” he said.
Vaccine procurement had been very opaque and the consequences were being felt across France. President Emmanuel Macron’s government has not heeded the lessons of the past, he said.
“Future planning is not a French quality. We came with masks, test kits and we see it again with doses of vaccine ”, he complained. “What was Plan B?”
Reporting by Pascal Rossignol in Ribecourt-la-Tour and Caroline Pailliez in Paris; Additional reporting by Elizabeth Pineau; Written by Richard Lough; Janet Lawrence edition