RIBECOURT-LA-TOUR, France (Reuters) – Renaud Georges was days away from his first injection against the coronavirus, an injection he hoped would allow him to cuddle his grandchildren for the first time in months. Then he received a text message saying the appointment had been canceled.
“It’s a huge disappointment,” he said. “For us, the vaccine is the only way out of this dire crisis.”
The retired teacher said that due to a shortage of vaccine doses, the next available time was March 10. His wife Annie, who is two months shy of her 75th birthday and is not seen as a priority in good health, does not know when she will. get vaccinated.
“We don’t miss being able to hug our children, to hold them in our arms. That’s all for us, ”said Georges.
Europe is facing a vaccine shortage as Pfizer and Moderna have temporarily slowed supplies, while AstraZeneca said it would cut volumes allocated to the European Union in the first quarter due to manufacturing issues.
The shortages have meant that the northern region of Hauts-de-France where the Georges live, the greater area of Paris and at least one other region, which together account for a third of the French population, has delayed the provision of first doses .
General practitioner Anthony Haro said he was forced to temporarily close the vaccine center in nearby Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, which had been operating for nine days, after the local hospital supplying the vaccine said supplies were exhausted.
“We had made promises to our patients, and those promises brought comfort,” he said. “We currently have very vulnerable patients, such as those undergoing chemotherapy, who we cannot vaccinate because doses are reserved for second-round vaccinations.”
“NO REGRETS”
France did not regret the European process of purchasing vaccines, European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune said.
“The idea that France or Germany will get the vaccine, but not the neighboring countries, makes no sense,” said the minister.
Local officials blame the government for a chaotic vaccination. They say it panicked after the campaign got off to a slow start and made the vaccine available to too many people too quickly.
Health Minister Olivier Veran said there were no cancellations, only appointments had been postponed, and blamed lower than expected deliveries from pharmaceutical companies. He also said the increased number of vaccination centers had resulted in more appointments than doses in some places.
In mid-January, the mayor of Paris’ 17th arrondissement, Geoffroy Boulard, rushed to find doctors, nurses and administrative staff to run a third vaccination center in his district that could deliver at least 1,200 COVID injections per day.
Three days before the center was due to open, city authorities informed Boulard that there were not enough doses of the Pfizer vaccine. “It feels like we are being taken for idiots,” he said.
The procurement of vaccines was too opaque and the consequences were felt all over France. President Emmanuel Macron’s government had disregarded lessons from the past, he said.
“Planning ahead is not French quality. We saw it with masks, test kits and we saw it again with vaccine doses, ”he complained. “What was Plan B?”
Reporting by Pascal Rossignol in Ribecourt-la-Tour and Caroline Pailliez in Paris; Additional reporting by Elizabeth Pineau; Written by Richard Lough; Editing by Janet Lawrence