Discussion
I had my first jab last Saturday with an RDV for the second on 18th Feb. I couldn't get anywhere with Sante.fr or by ringing my local hospital but somebody told me to Google 'Doctolib/nearest town' and bless my soul, all sorted. Doctolib handles doctors' bookings all over France and they are partnering with local hospitals and setting up vaccination sites in all sorts of places, in our case an old cinema. That said you have to be over 75 or with underlying conditions or etc etc.
I think the EU approach to vaccines highlights the strengths an weaknesses of the system.
France and Germany with their own big Pharma industries would have left many of the smaller and poorer countries of the EU waiting a long time for supplies. But then armed with huge orders the EU try to belatedly bully their way into the world capacity for vaccines.
Probably at the behest of the French Govt, they placed a very big bet on the Pasteur Institute and Sanoffi, who have failed miserably. As they are offering to supply on a not-for-profit basis the Oxford University / AstaZeneca must have looked like a safe bet despite not having the capacity to supply Europe without sub-contracting production. It is the French owned sub-contracter based in Belgium that is experiencing production difficulties of the AZ vaccine.
Having recognised that they are too late to the party, Sanoffi have now sub-contracted to Pfizer to produce a vaccine with known distribution issues due to its storage temperature. However, it has a decent margin in its €24 / person over the equivalent €4 for the AstaZeneca vaccine, so making money comes first. Having failed with its heavy handed strategy, the EU are now blaming AstraZeneca for failure to supply the expected quantities in the 1st quarter. Its always someone else’s fault.
Meanwhile, those of us under 70 will inevitably be waiting a very long time for our first doses, due to France’s insistence that doses must be 3-4 weeks apart rather than take the pragmatic approach that the UK has. Despite EMA approval for all adults, it looks like no one over 65 will be offered the AZ vaccine.
It is an utter mess that will probably cause further stagnation during 2021 and beyond. Hungary throwing in the towel and buying Sputnik 5 from Russia emphasises just how great the EU’s failure has been.
France and Germany with their own big Pharma industries would have left many of the smaller and poorer countries of the EU waiting a long time for supplies. But then armed with huge orders the EU try to belatedly bully their way into the world capacity for vaccines.
Probably at the behest of the French Govt, they placed a very big bet on the Pasteur Institute and Sanoffi, who have failed miserably. As they are offering to supply on a not-for-profit basis the Oxford University / AstaZeneca must have looked like a safe bet despite not having the capacity to supply Europe without sub-contracting production. It is the French owned sub-contracter based in Belgium that is experiencing production difficulties of the AZ vaccine.
Having recognised that they are too late to the party, Sanoffi have now sub-contracted to Pfizer to produce a vaccine with known distribution issues due to its storage temperature. However, it has a decent margin in its €24 / person over the equivalent €4 for the AstaZeneca vaccine, so making money comes first. Having failed with its heavy handed strategy, the EU are now blaming AstraZeneca for failure to supply the expected quantities in the 1st quarter. Its always someone else’s fault.
Meanwhile, those of us under 70 will inevitably be waiting a very long time for our first doses, due to France’s insistence that doses must be 3-4 weeks apart rather than take the pragmatic approach that the UK has. Despite EMA approval for all adults, it looks like no one over 65 will be offered the AZ vaccine.
It is an utter mess that will probably cause further stagnation during 2021 and beyond. Hungary throwing in the towel and buying Sputnik 5 from Russia emphasises just how great the EU’s failure has been.
We dont know anyone in the UK over the age of 70 who has not been vaccinated. We also know quite a few under that age who have also been vaccinated by being in the right place, at the right time.
Meanwhile my French friend in Vienne, who is 87 and has life-threatening issues is unable to get a first vaccination during the next 28-days. His wife 81, has just been diagnosed with cancer and so may be vaccinated before she is operated on.
Meanwhile my French friend in Vienne, who is 87 and has life-threatening issues is unable to get a first vaccination during the next 28-days. His wife 81, has just been diagnosed with cancer and so may be vaccinated before she is operated on.
There appears to be a number of doctors in France who are willing to have "younger" people on a standby list to step in and get a jab when others fail to turn up. We are just over 60 fit and healthy and have an appointment for Sunday. Well worth asking local docs pharmacies etc if they are doing the same.
I 'm not complaining, maybe I'm not yet as "french" as you guys.
Whilst accepting, as Macron has done, that there have been errors, can I just make a few points:
AZ promised "best efforts" in their contract and only supplied 25% of the projected doses - best efforts, 25%, really?
France concentrated on vaccinating it's EHPAD residents first, naturally a slower process than vaccinating in large centres. The result is that whereas EHPAD residents accounted for 50% of deaths before January, they have accounted for 10% since then.
France is now administering a similar daily number of first doses as the UK is.
Macron is now likely to hit or exceed his targets, the final one being that everyone over the age of 18 that wants to be vacinated will have been by the end of the summer.
Ron, here's a chart that shows vaccine production and export. The UK has only produced 16m doses, many of the rest are being imported to the UK from the EU. No-one rioted here.
It seems to me, and I've not seen reference to this elsewhere, that there is something strange about the UK case figures. Bearing in mind that they mostly vaccinated older people at the start of their program, why did case numbers fall so dramatically and so quickly? Was it mostly old people that were the spreaders?
Whilst accepting, as Macron has done, that there have been errors, can I just make a few points:
AZ promised "best efforts" in their contract and only supplied 25% of the projected doses - best efforts, 25%, really?
France concentrated on vaccinating it's EHPAD residents first, naturally a slower process than vaccinating in large centres. The result is that whereas EHPAD residents accounted for 50% of deaths before January, they have accounted for 10% since then.
France is now administering a similar daily number of first doses as the UK is.
Macron is now likely to hit or exceed his targets, the final one being that everyone over the age of 18 that wants to be vacinated will have been by the end of the summer.
Ron, here's a chart that shows vaccine production and export. The UK has only produced 16m doses, many of the rest are being imported to the UK from the EU. No-one rioted here.
It seems to me, and I've not seen reference to this elsewhere, that there is something strange about the UK case figures. Bearing in mind that they mostly vaccinated older people at the start of their program, why did case numbers fall so dramatically and so quickly? Was it mostly old people that were the spreaders?
https://covidtracker.fr/vitemadose/
New website launched to find your nearest and soonest vaccination date, and allow you to book.
Obviously only available to 70+ or other people on the list who are in the first group to get it.
New website launched to find your nearest and soonest vaccination date, and allow you to book.
Obviously only available to 70+ or other people on the list who are in the first group to get it.
We had our first doses Wednesday 24th, despite having no co-morbidities, so i cannot complain, but are just very pleased that we have a GP who prefers to push open doors, to use up his 10-dose allocation per week.
Despite all the talk, i do not believe that the day-to-day delivery of doses to arms is really not that much to shout about. UK friends talk about 12-streams delivering simultaneously, primarily by volunteers. This has the added benefit of building a community spirit. At least it is better than Germany, which really surprises me.
amongst most French people that i know they are, at best, only luke warm to the idea of being vaccinated. That attitude has not been helped by the Govt’s less than enthusiastic approach to getting out of the pandemic.
Despite all the talk, i do not believe that the day-to-day delivery of doses to arms is really not that much to shout about. UK friends talk about 12-streams delivering simultaneously, primarily by volunteers. This has the added benefit of building a community spirit. At least it is better than Germany, which really surprises me.
amongst most French people that i know they are, at best, only luke warm to the idea of being vaccinated. That attitude has not been helped by the Govt’s less than enthusiastic approach to getting out of the pandemic.
AZ promised "best efforts" in their contract and only supplied 25% of the projected doses - best efforts, 25%, really?
One of my best mates, a seriously heavyweight international lawyer, went through the French Gov's contract with AZ and said the whole thing was so vague as to be pointless. Promises of best efforts but nothing concrete. Contrast the UK Gov's arrangement made in May, where they contracted to a number of doses @ €27 per dose and paid up front, with the EU who wasted three months debating the arrangements before placing their vaguely worded contract in September at a no profit price of €7 or €9 per dose for payment on delivery.
Do please correct me if I have got any of that wrong but the general tilt of the affair is clear. It grieves me to say it but the EU lost time getting all 27 countries to agree with the arrangements which were badly worded and then screwed AZ into a no profit deal since when they have wasted even more time and lives by trying endlessly to stick the blame for the fiasco on anybody else, especially the UK who bought up all the stock!!
well done and well said we are having our second AZ jab on the 20th of April and we have both felt fine and and as said they are all trying to gain smarty points by blaming it all on the U/K to cover for their incompetence lets hope they get it right before next year so we can meet up with our French Motor Club 
So, the vaccine effort is running pretty smoothly with 1.3 million vaccination rendezvous previewed this week. Although Macron's target for 15th April (10m 1st doses) was not very ambitious, it looks like it will be beaten by 2 million or so. Shows what can be done when the vaccines are available. My OH had calls from the mairie, doctor and phamacie last week offering appointments, but there's clearly a difference between regions.
For anyone that doesn't know, those from age 55 can make an appointment for AZ or JnJ from Monday. I recommend the site mentioned above by timlongs: https://covidtracker.fr/vitemadose/ and if you can fill an unused rendezvous at short notice: https://www.covidliste.com/
A good article on the effectiveness of the main vaccines on different virus mutations is here: https://www.businessinsider.fr/us/covid-19-vaccine...
For anyone that doesn't know, those from age 55 can make an appointment for AZ or JnJ from Monday. I recommend the site mentioned above by timlongs: https://covidtracker.fr/vitemadose/ and if you can fill an unused rendezvous at short notice: https://www.covidliste.com/
A good article on the effectiveness of the main vaccines on different virus mutations is here: https://www.businessinsider.fr/us/covid-19-vaccine...
Things are beginning to take off, but the rolling 7-day figure to Saturday show a less than sustained effort day-to-day.
The worry now is the big number of sceptics who continue to refuse any vaccine. By surviving our AZ vaccination, we have now persuaded our cleaner, husband and her parents to have theirs. Perhaps word of mouth is a strategy that the Government should be pursuing, rather than keep chopping and changing.
We also know the guy in charge of electrical services at the CHU in Angers. He is 50 and was given the AZ vaccine a few weeks ago, but now cannot have a second, despite the fact that he would be quite happy to. So he is now going to get a dose of something else for which there have been no trials or known efficacy.
M Macron seems to have trouble understanding the basic principle of - if you are in a hole, then stop digging. Edward Phillip is waiting in the wings.
The worry now is the big number of sceptics who continue to refuse any vaccine. By surviving our AZ vaccination, we have now persuaded our cleaner, husband and her parents to have theirs. Perhaps word of mouth is a strategy that the Government should be pursuing, rather than keep chopping and changing.
We also know the guy in charge of electrical services at the CHU in Angers. He is 50 and was given the AZ vaccine a few weeks ago, but now cannot have a second, despite the fact that he would be quite happy to. So he is now going to get a dose of something else for which there have been no trials or known efficacy.
M Macron seems to have trouble understanding the basic principle of - if you are in a hole, then stop digging. Edward Phillip is waiting in the wings.
Fatt McMissile said:
So, the vaccine effort is running pretty smoothly with 1.3 million vaccination rendezvous previewed this week. Although Macron's target for 15th April (10m 1st doses) was not very ambitious, it looks like it will be beaten by 2 million or so. Shows what can be done when the vaccines are available. My OH had calls from the mairie, doctor and phamacie last week offering appointments, but there's clearly a difference between regions.
For anyone that doesn't know, those from age 55 can make an appointment for AZ or JnJ from Monday. I recommend the site mentioned above by timlongs: https://covidtracker.fr/vitemadose/ and if you can fill an unused rendezvous at short notice: https://www.covidliste.com/
A good article on the effectiveness of the main vaccines on different virus mutations is here: https://www.businessinsider.fr/us/covid-19-vaccine...
Thanks for the link, Mrs RJ and myself are now booked in for our first shots this Saturday PM in Montlucon and our second ones in JulyFor anyone that doesn't know, those from age 55 can make an appointment for AZ or JnJ from Monday. I recommend the site mentioned above by timlongs: https://covidtracker.fr/vitemadose/ and if you can fill an unused rendezvous at short notice: https://www.covidliste.com/
A good article on the effectiveness of the main vaccines on different virus mutations is here: https://www.businessinsider.fr/us/covid-19-vaccine...
rdjohn said:
Things are beginning to take off, but the rolling 7-day figure to Saturday show a less than sustained effort day-to-day.
The worry now is the big number of sceptics who continue to refuse any vaccine. By surviving our AZ vaccination, we have now persuaded our cleaner, husband and her parents to have theirs. Perhaps word of mouth is a strategy that the Government should be pursuing, rather than keep chopping and changing.
We also know the guy in charge of electrical services at the CHU in Angers. He is 50 and was given the AZ vaccine a few weeks ago, but now cannot have a second, despite the fact that he would be quite happy to. So he is now going to get a dose of something else for which there have been no trials or known efficacy.
M Macron seems to have trouble understanding the basic principle of - if you are in a hole, then stop digging. Edward Phillip is waiting in the wings.
We to in the Gers have gone from virtually no appointments a couple of weeks ago to lots. Speaking to a friend the other day who has been working on this they are having problems getting people to come in now. Hesitancy is a massive problem here. Many are now only wanting the Moderna one if any. The worry now is the big number of sceptics who continue to refuse any vaccine. By surviving our AZ vaccination, we have now persuaded our cleaner, husband and her parents to have theirs. Perhaps word of mouth is a strategy that the Government should be pursuing, rather than keep chopping and changing.
We also know the guy in charge of electrical services at the CHU in Angers. He is 50 and was given the AZ vaccine a few weeks ago, but now cannot have a second, despite the fact that he would be quite happy to. So he is now going to get a dose of something else for which there have been no trials or known efficacy.
M Macron seems to have trouble understanding the basic principle of - if you are in a hole, then stop digging. Edward Phillip is waiting in the wings.
A client of mine went into his pharmacy on monday morning and was asked when does he want it he can have it whenever he wants. My dad has his today, that was booked in a couple of weeks ago by his doctor.
Gassing Station | France | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff