In response to the Covid-19 epidemic that has been affecting the continent since January 2020, the European Union has committed to ensuring the continent’s vaccine supply and coordinating the immunization campaigns launched last December 27.
In France, the first vaccination campaign, in which elderly people living in nursing homes are prioritized, began on December 27. Since then, it has faced numerous criticisms because the country seems to be lagging behind its European neighbors. As of January 2, only 432 people had received a first dose of the vaccine, compared to 239,000 in Germany and 88,000 in Italy.
France is nevertheless trying to adjust its course by accelerating its schedule and opening vaccination to healthcare workers over the age of 50, which was initially planned for early February. Citizens over 75 years old will also be able to receive injections before early February.
The European Commission has committed 2.15 billion euros from its emergency aid instrument to fund six private laboratories with the most advanced research and to pre-order 1.895 billion doses to be shared among member states.
Following the positive opinion of the European Medicines Agency, the Commission authorized the conditional marketing of a first vaccine on December 21, 2020, allowing member states to start their campaigns from December 27.*
The number of deaths in Europe
While most media reports currently cite 450,000 deaths in Europe, they include all the countries on the continent. Our figures are based on data compiled by Johns Hopkins University for the 27 member states of the European Union.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) considers the number of deaths in the European Economic Area (EU + Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein, the United Kingdom is no longer part of it since January 1, 2021), which stood at 428,000 deaths as of December 31.
Each member state is entitled to a share of the stock constituted by the European Commission proportional to its population.
France, for its part, is expected to receive around 15%, approximately 200 million doses. As most vaccine treatments being studied require two injections, this would allow Paris to ensure vaccination for at least 100 million people.
Following the favorable opinion of the European Medicines Agency and the conditional marketing authorization given by the Commission for the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine, France has a stock of 45 million doses, enough to treat nearly 22.5 million French residents.
