The pace of France's Covid-19 vaccination programme is too slow to prevent new lockdown measures being needed to halt a third wave of hospitalisations, top scientists say. But the third wave of hospital cases could be reduced by up to a third if France can catch up to the UK and start vaccinating more than 400,000 people per day. But real-world data from Scotland has shown the AstraZeneca shot cutting hospital cases by 94 per cent among the mainly elderly people who have had it so far. Hospital cases in Alpes-Maritimes are at an all time high with more than 700 people currently being treated, of whom more than 100 are in intensive care. On Wednesday, French health minister Olivier Veran announced similar measures for Dunkirk where the infection rate has reached 900 per 100,000.

Source: The Nation February 25, 2021 09:56 UTC