France has started the vaccination campaign against the coronavirus in the country which is one of the hardest hit in Europe. A 78-year-old woman received the first dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine who was a former housekeeper and now is a resident of the long-term care unit of a hospital in north Paris.
"'Ca Va' (I am fine). Perfect," the women said on Sunday after receiving the vaccine at a hospital in Sevran, Seine-Saint-Denis department.
Minutes after the vaccination campaign began, President Emmanuel Macron tweeted: "We have a new weapon against the virus: the vaccine. The vaccine will not be compulsory. Let us have confidence in our researchers and doctors.”
Pres Macron added, "We are the land of the Enlightenment and the Pastor, reason and science must guide us."
The President had tested positive for the virus on December 17 and was under self-isolation, although has recovered since then.
As per the weekly epidemiological update of Public, Health France published last week, only 40 per cent of French people have said that "they certainly or probably want to be vaccinated.”
The French government has designed a gradual roll-out plan to invite citizens, voluntarily and free of charge, to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. The authorities intend to have 1 million people, among the oldest and most vulnerable, vaccinated by the end of February in the country's 7,000 nursing homes and related facilities.
France by far has reported 2,616,510 confirmed coronavirus cases, while 62,867 people have succumbed to the virus.