Macron hits out at Covid know-alls as vaccination programme stalls

He’s getting rattled. President Macron today scolded the people of France for whingeing about Covid and always thinking they know better.

“There have always been 66 million coaches of the French football team,” he told an audience of scientists in the Paris suburb of Sarclay that had gathered to hear him announce a national investment plan in quantum technologies.

“Then, thanks to the Covid-19 health crisis, there were 66 million epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists. Now, with the appearance of the vaccine, we have 66 million public prosecutors.”

How this went down with his listeners was not disclosed. Perhaps the jury is still out. But it seems logical to assume that not all were in agreement with the speaker.

Mistrust, Macron went on, was well-documented and widespread. Oh yes. “But the one who doesn’t make mistakes is the one who doesn’t seek – who does nothing.”

As if to prove the truth of what he was saying, he then acknowledged that an element of risk and error had been factored into the €1.8bn quantum technology scheme. How much, he declined to vouchsafe – no doubt wisely.

But the President wasn’t done. During a parallel exchange with undergraduates at the University of Paris-Saclay – ranked First in the world for mathematics and First in Europe for physics – he disclosed his latest wheeze for keeping students fed and at least in touch with their tutors during Lockdown.

He announced that the state would in future allow students to enjoy two meals a day in restaurants at a cost of just one euro. He did not specify which restaurants, but it seems safe to assume that those with Michelin stars will not be part of the scheme. Those finding study difficult and who felt under unacceptable stress would benefit in addition from psy-cheques enabling them to seek therapy at the state’s expense.

Back in the big world, the situation with Covid in France continues to deteriorate. Those cleared for vaccination now include the over-75s (previously the over-80s), as well as frontline workers. When the rest of the country can expect to receive the jab remains unclear.

Supplies of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine continue to be limited due, it is said, to the fact that the manufacturers have shown themselves unable to meet the demand. Pfizer, we are told, promised far more than it could deliver, not just to France but across the EU, meaning that it could be mid-February before the doses for which contracts were signed actually turn up in vaccination centres.

The Minister for Industry, Agnès Pannier-Runachery, sought yesterday to clarify the situation. “The schedule provides for a drop in delivery of 140,000 doses this week,” she explained. “And, from next week, we will have 520,000 weekly deliveries, as initially planned”. The backlog of undelivered vaccinations would be cleared by the end of March, she promised.

In the meantime, there is frustration and disappointment throughout France. In Strasbourg, one of the worst-affected cities last spring, 600 vaccine appointments had to be postponed. Elsewhere in Alsace, centres that should have opened have been told to close their doors for the next eight days. On the opposite side of the country, in the Norman town of Alençon, the designated vaccination centre for the entire commune had to be closed due to lack of supply. Only second doses were available, which was of no use given that first doses had run out completely. In Rouen, the capital of Normandy, it was much the same. “We are in the dark,” one senior doctor told the local TV station. “We open, we close. We adapt in accordance with the number of doses we receive.”

It is the same story just about everywhere, including in Paris, where the 19 centres that have been set up can for now offer jabs only to frontline workers and those over 75 who have an appointment signed by their doctor or pharmacist.

As of Thursday afternoon, there were 2.97 million reported cases of Covid in France, against 3.51 million in the UK. The number of deaths in France had reached 71,652, against 93,290 in Britain.