France on Tuesday expanded its Covid-19 inoculation drive to children aged 12 and over in a bid to achieve herd immunity and slow the spread of variants, including the Delta strain behind a surge of cases in the United Kingdom.
The jabs are not compulsory for children and have no bearing on whether they can attend school or go on holiday in France.
But as demand for Covid vaccines slows among French adults the government is hoping that enough children will be willing to be immunized -- and that their parents will also approve -- to achieve the 80% population coverage that experts believe is needed to halt the spread of the virus.
France is also warily eyeing the spread of the Delta variant that has caused a spike in infections in the UK, despite more than 55% of adults there having had two vaccine jabs.
On Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson delayed the full lifting of coronavirus restrictions in England by a month over the sharp rise in cases.
In France, the Delta variant, which was first detected in India, represents two to 4% of new daily Covid infections, Health Minister Olivier Veran announced on Tuesday.
"That's maybe not a lot, but England was in the same situation until a few weeks ago," he warned during a visit on Tuesday to a vaccination centre in Paris.
In France, a little over 30 million people, 58% of adults, have received at least one vaccine dose, but only 27.4% have received the two injections needed for maximum protection.
After a slow start to the campaign in December, marked by a high degree of vaccine hesitancy, demand for first vaccine shots surged in April and May but has since begun to taper off.
The Institut Pasteur estimates that 80% of the entire population would need to be vaccinated in order for France to achieve herd immunity.
The pandemic has killed at least 3,829,257 people worldwide since the virus first emerged in December 2019, according to an AFP compilation of official data.
Lab-leak theory scientist
The Chinese scientist at the centre of theories that the pandemic began with a leak from her Wuhan lab denies her institution was to blame in rare comments to the media.
Emirates deep in the red
Dubai-based airline Emirates posts a $5.5-billion annual loss, its first in more than three decades, after the virus devastated the aviation industry.
Covid corruption
The pandemic has worsened corruption across the EU, Transparency International says, with citizens at times needing personal connections for medical care and some governments using the crisis for their own gain.
