Professor Sir John Bell, who is part of the Oxford University vaccine team
Credit: PA
A leading member of the team that developed the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine accused Emmanuel Macron of trying to reduce demand for it by claiming it is “quasi-ineffective” for the over 65s.
Sir John Bell said the French president was lashing out to compensate for his country not having adequate supplies of the drug.
The professor of medicine said on Saturday: "I suspect this is a bit of demand management from Mr Macron,” adding: "Well, if he didn’t have any vaccine the best thing you could do is reduce demand."
It came as Mr Macron was at war with his own scientists after he refused to introduce a lockdown to control rising infection rates.
"Lockdown is a legitimate question… (but) we all know the heavy impact that has on all fronts,” said the French president on Friday.
With schools and shops still open but restaurants and bars closed, France has fewer restrictions than some European neighbours.
But with infection rates gradually rising and the percentage of the English variant now at 10 per cent of new cases nationwide — and reportedly around 20 per cent in Paris — government minister Gabriel Attal on Thursday conceded that the effects of the current 6pm-6am curfew were “dying out”.
Mr Macron was due to make an announcement this weekend. But in a surprise move, Jean Castex, his prime minister, on Friday said while the country would close its borders to non-European Union countries for all except essential travel, there would be no widely anticipated third lockdown for now, adding that there was “still a chance to avoid” one.
Some doctors, experts and opposition politicians were deeply critical of the move.
“The measures from a strictly sanitary level are almost anecdotal,” said Prof Gilbert Deray from the nephrology service off the Paris’ Pitié-Salpètriêre hospital.
“This isn’t taking a step back to jump further, it’s taking a step back to jump less far. The more you step back, the more (infections and hospitalisations) rise — and (they) will rise — and the harder and longer it will be.”
The government is keenly aware of growing fatigue among the public and alarm at the prospect of a third lockdown. An Odoxa-Backbone Consulting poll this week suggested that 57 per cent of French are against restrictions on having friends round and 64 per cent on non-essential shops shutting. Another poll suggested that 57 per cent of the French don’t trust Mr Macron to handle the Covid crisis.
A poll published this week showed Mr Macron beating his hard-Right rival marine Le Pen by just 4 percentage points in a second round presidential vote.
The French cabinet is reportedly split over whether to push for greater restrictions notably with the education and higher education ministers against.
Sir John rejected President Macron’s description of the Oxford jab as “quasi-ineffective”, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday: "I’m not sure where he got that from."
He acknowledged its original study only had small numbers of elderly people, with many shielding themselves from the pandemic, but added: "The numbers still pointed toward a very highly effective vaccine but the numbers were small, in fairness, we always accepted that.”
Sir John added that other studies proved "elderly people responded just as well in other age groups" and that "there’s really persuasive evidence that this is a protective vaccine in those populations".
Sir John, the regius chair of medicine at the University of Oxford who led the vaccine trials and is a member of the UK vaccine task force, earlier said Mr Macron’s comments were "very unfair and also untrue".
"This statement suggests he has not looked at the clinical or immunogenicity data which shows it is excellent in the over-65s," he said. "There is ample evidence of strong antibody responses in this age group and you can be certain they will respond to the vaccine. Perhaps he is trying to reduce demand for the vaccine for some reason."
The professor’s intervention came as President Macron was accused of risking undermining public confidence in the UK’s vaccine programme by making "untrue" claims about the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab.
Senior Conservative MPs and scientists accused the French president of failing to understand the science after he claimed the vaccine "doesn’t work as expected" and appeared to be "quasi-ineffective" in the over-65s.
Mr Macron also criticised the UK’s decision to give doses 12 weeks apart, claiming this could "accelerate the mutations" of the virus. He was speaking hours before the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for use, stating that it could be used “in older adults”.
It was the latest salvo in the extraordinary row between Brussels and the UK over vaccines, which saw the EU row back on Friday night over moves to block jabs from crossing from the Republic of Ireland into Northern Ireland.
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