Covid-19 pandemic: France hits vaccination milestone with 50 million jabs administered
France has reached a Covid-19 vaccination milestone with more than 50 million jabs administered among its population.
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The number of people in France who have received at least one jab against Covid-19 has crossed the 50-million mark, President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday.
Macron made the announcement in a video posted on social media in which he also said that “the vaccine saves lives and the virus kills, it’s that simple”.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) September 17, 2021
It comes as France suspended 3,000 health workers without pay for refusing the Covid vaccine under a new Covid-19 law that punishes people in care professions who refuse to get immunised against the virus.
The health Minister, Olivier Véran, said the staff had been notified in writing before the government-imposed deadline to have at least one dose.
Mr Véran said “several dozen” had resigned rather than have the vaccine, but with an estimated 2.7 million health workers in France, “continued healthcare is assured”, he said.
President Emmanuel Macron gave workers including staff at hospitals, retirement home workers and the fire service — some 2.7 million people in total — an ultimatum on July 12 to get at least one shot by September 15 or resign.
Two months later, thousands of healthcare workers are still baulking at getting jabbed, raising the spectre of disruptions to services in facilities forced to suspend staff without pay.
A hospital in the southern city of Montelimar confirmed that it had already begun cancelling non-urgent operations because of a shortage of vaccinated anaesthetists.
The hospital’s deputy-director Philippe Charre said three allergy specialists would also be absent over their refusal to comply with the vaccine mandate.
Public sector union the CGT has warned of a “health catastrophe” if the government suspends large numbers of hospital workers and bars vaccine-shy GPs.
“We have to keep these people on the job until they have been replaced,” said Christophe Prudhomme, an emergency services doctor and MP with the left-wing France Unbowed party.
But the government has vowed to see the policy through.
“We will not back down,” Prime Minister Jean Castex said last month.
France’s national public health agency estimated a week ago that roughly 12 per cent of hospital staff and around six per cent of doctors in private practices have yet to be vaccinated.
The head of the Paris public hospital network, Martin Hirsch, said he expected the fallout to be limited, however, estimating that only between 1 and 2 per cent of his staff were vaccine holdouts.
The head of the Synerpa federation of private care homes, Florence Arnaiz-Maume, also estimated that only between 1 and 2 per cent of staff in its member facilities — around 3,000 people — would have to be dismissed.
Meanwhile, Ireland has become the first European member state to vaccinate 90 per cent of its adult population against Covid, according to a tweet from the taoiseach, Micheál Martin, citing figures from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Vaccine take-up among adults across the bloc stands at 71.8 per cent. In England, it is 81 per cent.
Ireland now has the highest uptake of vaccination (full or both doses) anywhere in the EU, according to ECDC.
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) September 17, 2021
A huge effort by the public, and everyone involved in our #CovidVaccine rollout. pic.twitter.com/BhCDZG6mqE
NZ BORDER BUBBLE TAKES ANOTHER BAD TURN
New Zealand has extended the suspension of its border bubble with Australia, stopping quarantine-free travel for a further eight weeks.
Under the arrangement, travel is allowed between the two neighbouring countries without needing to isolate for two weeks but the NZ government updated its health advice on Friday afternoon stating a halt on that agreement would remain in place.
The decision was made due to the uncontrolled spread of the Delta variant circulating in NSW, Victoria and the ACT, as well as NZ authorities working to get on top of an outbreak in Auckland.
The major city is currently in lockdown after an infected person with the highly transmissible strain travelled to the country from Australia.
“The Government will review this decision in mid-to-late November 2021, to give more time for our vaccination rates to climb higher,” the NZ government website states.
Travellers from Australia who have the right to enter New Zealand can still fly over in October and November, but will need to quarantine for 14 days in a medi-hotel and return a negative test before departing.
One flight is planned for September 26 for those in an emergency situation.
Quarantine-free travel between then two countries has been suspended since July 23, while the current ban was due to end on September 24.
There were 11 new Covid-19 cases reported in NZ on Friday while 1825 were recorded across Australia from NSW, Victoria, the ACT and Queensland.
WHITE HOUSE ADDRESSES NICKI MINAJ’S CLAIMS
The White House has responded to claims by rapper Nicki Minaj that it invited her to visit and discuss the Covid-19 vaccine after she said the decision whether or not to take the jab was a personal choice.
“We offered a call with Nicki Minaj and one of our doctors to answer her questions she had about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
Ms Psaki noted it was a “very early-stage call” with the singer’s team.
“It was simply an offer to have a conversation,” she said.
When asked if she thought the call would happen, Ms Psaki said: “We’ll see. I don’t have anything to predict for you.”
Q: "Did the White House extend an invitation to @NICKIMINAJ? To come here?"
— CSPAN (@cspan) September 16, 2021
.@PressSec: "We offered a call with Nicki Minaj and one of our doctors to answer her questions she had about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine...it was simply an offer to have a conversation." pic.twitter.com/0f1Gm4JxNb
It came after Minaj she’ll dress in full pink when discussing the Covid vaccine with the White House so they know she means business about “BallGate”.
“The White House has invited me & I think it’s a step in the right direction. Yes, I’m going. I’ll be dressed in all pink like Legally Blonde so they know I mean business,” she said in a tweet.
“I’ll ask questions on behalf of the ppl who have been made fun of for simply being human. #BallGate day 3.”
Minaj said in an Instagram story that she had since been put in “Twitter jail” and prevented from tweeting over her questions about the vaccine. While company has denied in media statements, Minaj has not tweeted for almost a full 24 hours.
The Grammy-nominated rapper sparked a media storm Monday when she said she had skipped New York’s star-studded Met Gala this week due to its requirement that attendees be vaccinated, saying she would only get the jab once she had “done enough research”.
She said a friend of a cousin in Trinidad had experienced swollen testicles after getting the vaccine — claims that sparked a formal rebuttal from the Caribbean nation’s health Minister.
“One of the reasons why we could not respond yesterday in real-time to Miss Minaj is that we had to check and make sure that what she was claiming was either true or false,” Terrence Deyalsingh told a press conference.
“Unfortunately, we wasted so much time yesterday running down this false claim.” British and US health officials have also condemned the claims. Experts say there is no evidence that vaccines affect fertility or male genitalia.
UNVAXED FACE BANS FROM MAJOR UK EVENTS
The United Kingdom has warned unvaccinated or partially vaccinated people would be banned from major indoor and outdoor events if there is a virus surge during the winter.
The “Plan B” would reinstate previously-dropped vaccine passports throughout the country for indoor settings of more than 500 people, including music concerts, nightclubs, and cultural attractions.
The vaccine certificates would also be required at outdoor venues of 4,000 or more, or events of 10,000, such as football matches and music stadiums.
The plan, to be triggered at an indeterminate measure of “unsustainable pressure” on the National Health Service, would also include mask mandates and work from home orders. Lockdowns would also be reinstated as a “last resort” if the contingency plan fails to control the virus.
The existence of the so-called Plan B comes just a day after UK Health Minister Sajid Javid dropped plans to institute proof of vaccination, or a negative Covid test, to fully participate in the country’s reopened society.
Lockdown restrictions were lifted on “Freedom Day” in July, with nightclubs and sporting events either reopening for the first time or operating at higher capacities.
The vaccine passport, planned for September, was scrapped after fierce opposition from the public, and within the government, that they were a hindrance to business and an infringement on civil liberties.
The just-released Covid-19 Response: Autumn and Winter Plan, however, says businesses should begin preparing for the vaccine passports, suggesting they could be more imminent than the previous cancellation implied.
“If Plan B is implemented, it could be at short notice in response to concerning data,” it says.
“Therefore, in order to help businesses prepare their own contingency plans, the government will shortly publish more detail about the proposed certification regime that would be introduced as part of plan B. The government would seek to give businesses at least one week’s notice before mandatory vaccine certification came into force.”
30 MILLION PEOPLE OFFERED BOOSTER
While a spokesperson for the prime minister said there was no specific metric for when the contingency plan would be triggered, the UK was preparing to head off any potential outbreak by expanding its booster program to 30 million people.
All over-50s, clinically vulnerable individuals and healthcare workers are eligible for a third dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines under the expanded plan for additional layers of protection ahead of the winter.
Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation had already recommended the vulnerable receive the third dose, with the latest expansion including anyone over 12 with a weakened immune system, such as cancer sufferers, organ transplant recipients and HIV patients.
Professor Wei Shen Lim said at a press conference that the booster was recommended after at least six months since the second shot.
The booster program, expected to be finished before Christmas, is not yet recommended for the wider general population.
It comes despite a group of scientific experts from the US FDA and the World Health Organisation finding a third dose of the vaccine is not needed to increase protection against Covid.
In an article published in the influential Lancet medical journal they argue that even though vaccine effectiveness against Delta is not as strong the jabs remain highly protective against severe disease.
Vaccines were still 95 per cent effective against severe disease both from the Delta variant and from the Alpha variant, the study said.
Vaccines were over 80 per cent effective against protecting against any infection from these variants according to observational studies, they said.
– With AFP
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