By Lea Guedj
VITRY-SUR-SEINE, France (Reuters) – French archivist Adele Bellot went on Tuesday to get a booster shot against COVID-19 with one aim in mind – to save Christmas.
“Christmas is coming soon and there are elderly people in my family. I really want to protect them from getting infected, that’s it,” she said, after getting her third shot in a vaccination center in Vitry-sur-Seine, just outside Paris.
With the holidays nearing and a fifth wave of the pandemic surging through France amid worries over the new Omicron variant, vaccination centers are at full stretch.
More than 9 million French people have received a booster. The Doctolib health app said 464,000 appointments for a booster had been made across France through its system on Monday alone.
Liliane Tiburce, 73, said she was relieved to get her booster shot ahead of Christmas.
“I am very happy to be able to do this before the coming holidays and celebrations. My children and grand-children are coming so that’s for the best,” she said.
Head nurse Chantal Simon said the Vitry-sur-Seine vaccination center, like many others across France, was getting swamped.
“There are not enough slots, everybody says so. People call us and tell us that they cannot find appointments,” she said.
With more than 90% of French aged 12 and over having had at least one jab, and over 88% having received two, and people now going for their third shot, Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Monday that France, unlike some of its neighbours, did not need to tighten restrictions much more.
But with the virus still spreading, nightclubs will be shut for four weeks and vaccination will be open to children, he said.
In the Vitry-sur-Seine vaccination center there were first-timers too, including pensioner Viviane Chieze, getting her first jab despite concerns, she said, over how quickly COVID-19 vaccines had been developed.
Asked what changed her mind, she said: “My doctor. He told me off … he told me that it was wrong to not get vaccinated.”
(Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
