France will reduce the delay between the second and third Covid-19 vaccination injection from five to four months from January, French Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Friday.
He also said that major public parties and fireworks will be banned on New Year's Eve and recommended that people – even if vaccinated – take a self-test before getting together for year-end parties.
Castex likened the spread of the Omicron variant in Europe to "lightning", adding that it would be the dominant strain in France from the start of 2022.
Castex added that while much was not yet known about the variant "it does not seem to be more dangerous than the Delta variant and the data available to us indicate that complete vaccination coverage with the booster dose protects well against severe forms of the disease".
(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS, AFP)
