France will ensure free COVID-19 vaccinations for all who are in its social security system and has earmarked 1.5 billion euros of next year's social security budget to cover the cost, Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Thursday.
Castex said the vaccination campaign would begin in a matter of weeks, pending regulatory approval by the European Medicines Agency. The inoculation program would be staggered over three categories of people, he said, commencing with the most vulnerable in nursing homes.
"The vaccination will be free for all," Castex told a press conference.
France has ordered some 200 million doses from different pharmaceutical companies developing vaccines, Castex said, enough to inoculate 100 million people - more than France's population.
The COVID-19 vaccination will be voluntary in France. Castex assured citizens the approved vaccines would be safe.
"The remarkable mobilization worldwide has allowed the rapid development of vaccines. However, this timeframe in no way means that we have compromised safety," the prime minister said.
According to an Ipsos poll for the World Economic Forum, only 59% of French respondents said they would get a COVID-19 vaccine if it became available, compared with 67% in the United States and 85% in Britain.
French health authorities on Thursday reported new 12,696 COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours, down from Wednesday's 14,064, while the number of patients hospitalized for the disease fell at a one-month low.
The number of people in France who have died from COVID-19 infections rose by 324 to 54,140, versus increase of 310 the day before. The cumulative number of cases now totals 2,257,331.
