French President Emmanuel Macron.
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LONDON – France is currently lagging far behind other European countries with the introduction of the Covid-19 vaccine, which could potentially hurt the chances of re-election of President Emmanuel Macron.
So far, 80,000 French citizens have been vaccinated against the corona virus. By way of comparison: neighboring Germany has done hundreds of thousands of vaccinations.
Success or failure in vaccinating the population is likely to shape political debate as the campaign for the 2022 presidential race heats up in the coming months.
“While the 2022 presidential election seems a long way off, President Macron is certainly concerned that a poorly executed vaccination will now hurt his chances of a new term,” Jessica Hinds, a European economist at Capital Economics, told CNBC on Thursday. .
Macron was neck-and-neck with far-right leader Marine Le Pen in a poll published in October.
The French president has reportedly complained that the pace of the inoculations was “not worthy of the moment or the French people” and said the situation “needs to change rapidly and notably,” Le Journal du Dimanche reported earlier this month. The president’s office was not immediately available for comment on Monday when CNBC reached out.
A slow rate of vaccination would limit the government’s ability to lift restrictions that take their toll on the economy and people’s daily lives. would be to cancel them earlier, ”Hinds said.
Red tape was the main reason for the delays. Citizens had to get a pre-vaccination consultation for a shot and get their doctor’s approval.
“What I find striking about the French strategy is that government officials didn’t pay much attention to logistics, to the details,” Jeremy Ghez, professor at HEC Paris Business School, told CNBC via email.
Reports from the country also suggest that there is a high level of anti-vaccination sentiment among the population, compared to other countries.
French Health Minister Olivier Veran initially suggested that careful distribution would take into account concerns about the vaccine among the general population. An Ipsos poll published in late December found that only 40% of the French had plans to get the coronavirus vaccine.
But the French government now wants to turn the situation around by simplifying the process. The French Veran said that people over 75 can make an appointment via the internet or telephone to get vaccinated.
The country is also expanding eligibility criteria and the government has vowed that 1 million people will be vaccinated by the end of the month.
France is one of the countries most affected by the pandemic. Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Thursday that restaurants and ski resorts will remain closed until at least mid-February and that the curfew will be extended until the end of January.
Social constraints take their toll on the economy. France’s GDP is expected to shrink by more than 9% by 2020.
The slower the roll-out of vaccines is, the longer parts of the economy will remain closed.
“The French economy is under anesthesia and it’s not until you pull the fiscal plug that you really know how quickly economic actors can recover. If this happens quickly, I am happy with Macron’s opportunities, as there are so few alternatives as of today. no, I would say all bets are off, ”Ghez said of how economic performance will affect the presidential election.
Macron defeated Le Pen in 2017 on a pro-EU agenda.