Head of the Center of Excellence in Clinical Virology at the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Prof. Dr. Yong Poovorawan, has shared useful information about COVID-19 vaccines and herd immunity, using data from England and France. England has administered 75 vaccine doses per 100 people, while France has administered 34 doses per 100 people. Deaths among COVID-19 cases in France are 10 times higher than those in England
According to a message posted on Prof. Dr. Yong’s Facebook page today, France has a population of 65 million people while England has 67 million. Their populations are close in size. Both countries have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and have implemented lockdown measures.
When the English variant was first detected, the public transport system was heavily affected. As of May 4, England aims to administer 75 shots per 100 people, while France is able to administer 34 doses per 100 people.
England uses COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer and AstraZeneca, but the latter has become more dominant. Following the risk of blood clots which was tentatively linked to AstraZeneca’s viral vector product, the vaccine administration rate in France has significantly dropped when compared to England, down by more than 50 percent.
As a result, England records 1,000 to 2,000 new COVID-19 cases per day, and the number of COVID-19 deaths per day is in the two-digit range. As for France, the number of new COVID-19 cases is about 20,000 per day, with daily COVID-19 related deaths at 200 to 300 people. The figures in France are 10 times higher than those in England. Therefore, mass vaccination is clearly beneficial for the public health system and people’s lives.
