Doses shortfall, delivery delay cast doubt over France's vaccination rollout

PARIS -- With its gradual vaccination, France is racing to counter a resurgence in COVID-19 infections fuelled by more infectious variants, although many fear that doses shortfall and delivery delay may throw a spanner into the government's vaccination rollout.

When launching its vaccination campaign on Dec 27 as part of a coordinated European plan, France opted for a gradual and free rollout, prioritizing elderly and vulnerable people to avoid a surge in serious cases and deaths.

Up to 1.4 million are set to have the first shot by the end of January, then the campaign would extend to nearly half of the 67 million inhabitants by the end of May and inoculate the total population by late August.

So far, the country has obtained 2,035,000 doses with a delivery pace of 520,000 doses per week for the Pfizer vaccine and 50,000 doses from Moderna.

It hopes to receive 2.6 million doses of vaccines by the end of January, and 137 million jabs by August to protect all French people, according to Health Minister Olivier Veran.

"If all the vaccines ordered are authorized by the health authorities and if the laboratories respect their commitments, we will achieve this goal," he tweeted last week.