Reader question: You have reported that the Covid-19 vaccinations are now open to over 55s but I am 62 and am still not eligible for a vaccine so it is clear there are not enough doses. So, why this announcement?
France opened up the vaccination campaign to all people, regardless of health, aged 55 to 59 on Monday (April 12), but only using the AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
The rollout of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in Europe has since been preemptively suspended by the company due to the detection of a small number of blood clots in patients in the US. It is not yet clear what effect this will have on France’s vaccination campaign.
The government has also announced that beginning Friday (April 16), anyone over 60, regardless of health problems, will be eligible to receive any of the vaccines on offer – those of AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna.
They can be vaccinated by their GPs, at pharmacies or in vaccination centres.
Currently, over 60s without health problems can only be vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine in pharmacies or by their GP.
See our vaccination campaign calendar at the bottom of the article to see who is eligible and when.
Some readers have still reported trouble getting a vaccination appointment. The number of doses available depends on where you live.
The percentage of people who have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccination in each department on mainland France is quite even, as shown in the map below, but there are some disparities.
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Source: CovidTracker.fr
Seine-Saint-Denis (11.29%) and Seine –et-Marne (11.35%) have vaccinated the fewest number of people proportional to the population.
Alpes-Maritimes (22.59%) has vaccinated the most.
You can search for your department by following this link and scrolling down until you see the interactive table.
The mayor of Pas-de-Calais, Natacha Bouchart, has called on the government to increase the number of doses being delivered to the department, saying there is a shortage.
Pas-de-Calais has been badly hit by Covid-19. The number of positive Covid-19 cases there per every 100,000 citizens is 400. This is higher than the national average of 343.
In Pas-de-Calais, 18.88% of the population have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
You just need to put in the department where you live and it will offer you the next available appointment in your area, which you can book online by clicking through the link.
The Connexion checked this service this morning (April 14) and found that the next available appointment for a vaccination at a centre in Pas-de-Calais is on Saturday, April 17.
Over 1.5 million searches have been done using Vite Ma Dose since its launch on April 1, La Dépêche reported.
Source: CovidTracker.fr
Another option to help find a vaccination appointment is a free national helpline.
You can call 0800 009 110, every day between 06:00 and 22:00, and an operator will assist you with booking an appointment.
For anyone who is not yet eligible for a vaccination, there is a tool that could allow you to get vaccinated with a spare dose at the end of the day.
Covidliste is a website that connects patients with leftover vaccination doses. Currently, over 600,000 people have signed up for this service and just under 1,000 people have been vaccinated through this service.
