A 78-year-old woman became the first person vaccinated against Covid-19 in France when she received the country’s first dose at René-Muret Hospital in Sevran, Seine-Saint-Denis, outside Paris, according to an AFP journalist on site
“I am moved,” said the woman, named only as Mauricette, a former housekeeper, who was inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine around 11am on Sunday in the public hospital’s long-term care unit. She smiled and was applauded by hospital staff after receiving the jab.
A 65-year-old cardiologist, Dr. Jean-Jacques Monsuez, was next to be vaccinated, shortly before 11:20am.
Some 20 seniors and healthcare workers are slated to receive the vaccine on Sunday during France’s symbolic launch of the programme, in Sevran as well as in a geriatric care centre in Dijon.
The French government is aiming to have an initial one million people – consisting of seniors, vulnerable individuals and healthcare workers – vaccinated against Covid-19 by the end of February in the country’s 7,000 nursing homes and related facilities.
European Union countries on Sunday embarked on the vaccination campaign hailed as the “key” to defeating Covid-19, as the growing spread of a new coronavirus variant intensified fears the pandemic could wreak further devastation.
AFP
