Sharjah24 – Reuters: French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday a vaccine to prevent COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, could start being administered as soon as the end of the year in France if approved by regulators.
"We are going to organise a swift and massive vaccination campaign," Macron said in a televised address to the nation detailing how the country would start easing a lockdown this weekend.
"We will very likely, and pending authorisation by health authorities, start vaccination of the most vulnerable populations, hence the elderly, as soon as the end of December, early January," he said, adding other population groups would be offered the vaccination consecutively.
Vaccination would not be compulsory, Macron said.
Governments in Europe are working to map out what could be the biggest vaccination scheme in decades.
The task appears particularly daunting in France, which has one of the world's lowest levels of trust in vaccines.
According to an Ipsos poll for the World Economic Forum, only 59% of French respondents said they would get a COVID-19 vaccine if it became available, compared with 67% in the United States and 85% in Britain.
Macron said a scientific committee would be established to monitor vaccinations and that a group of citizens would also take part to ensure transparency.
Officials at the Health Ministry said a task force supervised by the prime minister's office was currently in charge of the logistics aspects and that equipment to store vaccines at very low temperatures had been purchased.
A series of other public bodies would also offer advice on how to conduct vaccinations in the coming months, they said.
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