Paris Disneyland to turn into Covid ‘vaccinodrome’

French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to announce new lockdown measures on Wednesday

The Sleeping Beauty Castle of Disneyland pictured on 16 March, 2017 in Marne-La-Vallee, east of the French capital Paris (AFP via Getty Images)

The French government is set to open a Covid vaccination mega centre in Disneyland Paris next month amid surging case numbers in the country.

The amusement park is one of 35 “vaccinodromes” being opened throughout France in an effort to accelerate its vaccination roll-out, which has so far been among the slowest in Europe.

The site will be staffed by 40 local firefighters and nurses, who will administer the Pfizer vaccine to up to 1,000 people every day, according to Le Parisien.

The theme park was set to reopen on 2 April but a third national lockdown announced earlier this month has put those plans on hold.

New cases have continued to climb since then, with more than 5,000 Covid-19 patients currently in intensive care. French president Emmanuel Macron is set to make another announcement on Wednesday evening, during which he is expected to unveil even stricter confinement measures.

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Mr Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed possible cooperation on vaccines with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a joint video conference on Tuesday.

The Kremlin said in a statement that the trio had discussed the outlook for Russia's flagship Sputnik V vaccine being registered across the EU as well as potential deliveries and joint production of the vaccine inside the EU.

The European Union's regulator – the European Medicines Agency – has yet to grant its approval to Sputnik V, but is reviewing it, and some individual EU member states have either approved it or are assessing it for approval at a national level.

Use of the Russian vaccine has divided the 27-nation bloc with some such as Thierry Breton, the EU's internal market commissioner, saying it has no need for Sputnik V and others, such as Charles Michel, who chairs EU summits, accusing Moscow of using vaccines for propaganda, something it rejects.

Behind the scenes, the bloc is showing increased interest in the Sputnik V shot, EU diplomatic and official sources told Reuters.

Less than 12 per cent of the French population has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, compared to more than 45 per cent of the population in the UK.

Additional reporting from agencies.