PARIS

Paris’s popular football venue Stade de France, which has been devoid of spectators in the stands, will soon host candidates for coronavirus vaccination. 

Mathieu Hanotin, the mayor of Saint Denis, took to Twitter on Tuesday to announce the vaccine center at the national stadium. The venue will begin the drive from April 6, wherein 10,000 people can be given the shot per week.

In the south of France, the city of Marseille has already begun vaccination at the Stade Velodrome of the Olympique de Marseille football club.

Health Minister Olivier Veran has said that 35 mega vaccine centers will be set up in the coming days and the army, police and firefighters will be deployed for the campaign.

Elsewhere, authorities will open smaller centers.

“The objective is to use all the vaccines which are delivered from April onwards to undertake the mass vaccination of the French people,” he told BFMTV on Monday.

Authorities are aiming to administer the first dose to 10 million people by mid-April.

In an interview with BFMTV, however, immunologist Alain Fischer, a government adviser on the vaccine strategy, expressed reluctance over achieving that figure. He cited slow deliveries and doubts over the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was suspended temporarily over fears that it causes blood clots.

Till now, 6,370,705 people have received at least one shot. As France faces a third wave of the pandemic, the government is banking on speedier vaccine campaign admissions to overcome it. The latest health data fared better in comparison to last week, with 14,678 new infections and 287 deaths.