France’s Covid-19 vaccination campaign expands: Latest update May 7

France’s vaccination campaign is expanding, with all over 50s eligible to receive a Covid-19 vaccination from Monday (May 10). They are able to book appointments from today.

Only people aged over 55 are eligible for the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. Everyone younger than this will receive either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines.

Also, from May 12, all adults, regardless of their health situation, will be able to book a Covid-19 vaccination appointment if there is one available for the following day.

For example, if you search for an appointment next Wednesday and there is one available for the next day on Thursday, you will be allowed to book it.

How to book a spare dose vaccination appointment

President Emmanuel Macron announced yesterday (May 6) that adults looking for appointments available in the next 24 hours could search for appointments online via booking platforms, such as Doctolib.

On the Doctolib website, you need to give a reason why you are booking an appointment, such as, you are over 60 years old, or you are a health professional, etc.

An option on the Doctolib website will be added stating that you wish to book an appointment within the next 24 hours, the founder of Doctolib has stated.

Another way to search for available doses is through the online tool Vite Ma Dose, a privately developed site that rapidly shows available vaccination appointments in your area.

The creator of Vite Ma Dose, Guillaume Rozier, has said that his team is working on a new tool, named ChronoDose, that will help people to find appointments available within the next 24 hours. It will be available from next Wednesday (May 12).

Read our article here explaining the different ways you can book a Covid-19 vaccination appointment - including using Vite Ma Dose.

Around 20,000 next-day bookings of Covid-19 vaccination appointments are made every day in France, Le Monde reported.

In most vaccination centres around France, appointments are fully booked days in advance.

A coordinator of a vaccination centre in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux (Nord) has called for more doses to cater for the opening of the vaccination to new demographics.

“We are at 300 vaccinations a day, seven days a week. We can still go up, but we need doses,” she told Le Monde.

Over 500,000 doses of a Covid-19 vaccine are being administered daily in France now.

The government is expecting to receive a total of 45 million Covid-19 vaccine doses this month alone.

The aim is to have given 30 million people at least a first dose of a vaccine by the end of June and every willing adult by the end of summer.

Who is eligible for a Covid-19 vaccination?

• Everyone over 60 years old in France can be vaccinated with any of the four vaccine types: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.

• Everyone aged 55 - 59, can be vaccinated with either the AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

• From May 10: Every resident in France over the age of 50, regardless of health, will be eligible to receive a Covid-19 vaccine. Only people aged 55 and over can receive the AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson vaccine types.

• From May 12: All adults if there is an appointment available within 24 hours.

• All 16- and 17-year-olds with serious health issues. They are now eligible to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in a vaccination centre. You can find a full list of the health issues that qualify here (in French). It includes issues such as inherited immune deficiencies and pulmonary arterial hypertension.

• All adults in general with serious health issues. You can find a full list of the health issues that qualify here (in French).

• The close family and friends of people with serious health issues.

• All working health professionals

• Certain other professions, such as care workers, emergency service workers, vets, etc. Find out more here (in French).

All adults will be eligible for a vaccination from June 15.