Muriel walks briskly towards the entrance to the Filature vaccination center in Périgueux. “I didn’t make an appointment. But it’s the last day, following that it’s over”, she laughs. Like her, 30,000 Périgourdins, i.e. 9% of people over 18risk losing their vaccination pass tomorrow, following the new rules put in place.
four months plus seven
From February 15, the deadline for the booster dose increases to four months. Concretely, this means that all those over 18 who have taken their second dose of vaccine before October 15, risk having their vaccine pass deactivated. “I realized this thanks to the AntiCovid application, explains Kimsy, 20. When I open my QR Code, it’s marked, basically, in yellow, hurry up quickly, otherwise your pass expires.” For those who have had the Covid, the infection corresponds to a dose of vaccine. But you must still have received at least one injection, recalled the Minister of Health Olivier Véran.
“We don’t give people a choice”
At the Spinning vaccination center, almost deserted, the few people present all hurried before their passes expired tomorrow. Some like Kismy had completely forgotten to take their third dose, others hadn’t had time before and are enjoying a week’s vacation, like Muriel. But still others, like Coralie, drag their feet a bit. She postponed her vaccination date at the last moment, but she needs her pass to work. “I thought maybe they’d change their minds, maybe I’d also catch the Covid in the meantime… So I did it at the last moment, I told myself that it would also postpone the fourth dose if one has to be taken. But what is certain is that I am not coming of my own free will. People are not given a choice”she protests, resigned.
In France, between 4 million and 4 and a half million people are at risk of losing their vaccine by February 15.
