President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that the overseas territories will receive the Novavax vaccine as a priority, without messenger RNA, which can be a response to the resistance to vaccination which affects certain departments, indicated the Elysée.
Emmanuel Macron wished to meet Thursday afternoon by videoconference with elected officials from overseas departments and communities, currently in a state of health emergency, in the presence of the Ministers of Overseas, Sébastien Lecornu, and of Health Olivier Véran.
Today, seven overseas departments and communities are placed in a state of health emergency: Réunion, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyana, Mayotte, Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy.
“The president wanted to assure elected officials that the overseas territories will be prioritized for deliveries of Novavax, which is a vaccine without messenger RNA and which can provide answers in departments where vaccination has been able to progress more slowly than elsewhere”, assured the Elysee.
“The president was able to clarify things on the vaccine pass,” added the Elysée.
“If Reunion and Mayotte entered the vaccination pass scheme from January 24, like France, in the West Indies and Guyana a consultation takes place. It is our pragmatic approach of differentiation of adaptation which is there implementation and the prefects in the coming days, at the end of the consultations which are carried out, will indicate the calendar in which the vaccine pass will be applied in these departments and communities”, according to the Elysée.
Max Mathiasin, deputy of Guadeloupe, indicated at the end of the meeting that a “delay of application with a deferred six months” had been requested.
“We had asked the President of the Republic several times to meet him on the situation in Guadeloupe. However, we received a summons with other territories”, for his part pointed out the President of the region Ary Chalus, considering “that there was a lack of respect and consideration for the overseas territories and in particular for Guadeloupe”.
National reinforcements are already present overseas, with 90 health personnel in Martinique, eight in Reunion, six in Saint Martin and 50 in Mayotte.
The president also “guaranteed elected officials that the evolution of the situation could lead to new reinforcements”, according to the Elysée, which indicates that “medical evacuations are maintained there too and that one “is in preparation from Martinique to hospitals in New Aquitaine”.
In addition, “a mission from the Armed Forces Health Service is deploying this evening in Reunion” to see how to lend a hand to hospitals in the department, according to the Elysée.
To deal with the tension generated in the hospital by the health crisis, “we asked for the reinforcement of a dozen personnel from the health reserve, we did not have an answer”, commented at the exit of the meeting Huguette Bello, DVG president of the regional council and support of Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Even if “we did not expect big announcements, I am extremely disappointed”, she added.
Reunion’s hospital services are under great strain when this island is swept by the Omicron wave, with the highest incidence rate in France.
Emmanuel Macron had already had the opportunity to speak with elected officials by videoconference in April 2020.