Vaccination has seen a serious boost in recent weeks – AFP
- 31% of Ile-de-France residents have received a dose of vaccine against Covid-19.
- In recent days, more and more Ile-de-France residents under 50% have been vaccinated, to the point that they are now in the majority.
- Next Monday, the vaccination will be open to everyone.
Even the Palace of Versailles was requisitioned for the occasion. This week, Ile-de-France is expected to exceed the symbolic threshold of four million people who have received at least one dose of vaccine against Covid-19. Of these, more than 1.5 million are fully immune. Since the end of April, the vaccination campaign has experienced a serious boost: at the end of last week, it was estimated at 75,000, on average, the number of Ile-de-France residents vaccinated daily, against 40,000 at the beginning of May. In the last week alone, the number of injections given has jumped by 18%.
However, Ile-de-France is still a red lantern in this race for collective immunity. Barely 31% of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine while everywhere else in France, this rate stands at over 35%. In Corsica, it even exceeds 41%. “Ile-de-France is the youngest region in the country or our vaccination campaign is linked to an age criterion, recently deciphered Aurélien Rousseau, the director of the Regional Health Agency in our columns. If we compare the target populations, we are in the national average. “Thus, nearly three quarters of Ile-de-France residents over 70 have received at least one dose.
More and more young people vaccinated
But this imbalance could quickly be reversed with the opening, from next Monday, of vaccination to all adults. Currently, only people over 50 and people suffering from comorbidities or working in a risky profession are eligible. Theoretically, anyway. Because since the beginning of May and even more since the possibility offered to all of reserving for the day for the day after unassigned slots, the number of first-time vaccinated under 50 has continued to increase. To the point of becoming a large majority. Last Wednesday, for example, of the approximately 93,000 injections performed in Ile-de-France, more than 65,000 concerned people between 18 and 49 years old, or 70% of vaccinations. And the enlargement on Monday of the list of priority professions – in particular to all teachers – should accelerate this trend a little more.
At the local level, however, the data collected suggests significant disparities. In Paris, the Ile-de-France department where vaccination is progressing the fastest, more than 48% of adults have received at least one dose… against barely 37% in Seine-et-Marne. And the age pyramid could not, this time, explain everything. On closer inspection, if the vaccination of over 75s is similar, it is on other age groups that the gap is widening. In Seine-et-Marne, 44% of people in their fifties have received at least one injection… against nearly 70% for this same age group in the capital.
The geography of this department, the largest in the region, and especially access to vaccination can explain this delay: when Paris has 27 centers, there are only 13 in Seine-et-Marne. Still, like everywhere, the campaign is accelerating in this department, and even faster than elsewhere: during the last week, daily vaccinations have increased by 30%, against only 12% in the capital. A hope of gradually catching up.