France promises to accelerate vaccination rollout amid criticism

French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to accelerate his country’s vaccination programme (Sebastien Nogier/Pool/AP)

Under fire for a glacially slow rollout of coronavirus vaccine shots, France’s government pledged on Thursday to pick up the pace with quicker inoculation to a broader array of health care workers starting next week.

President Emmanuel Macron also intervened in what was becoming an increasingly sharp debate about the slow start of vaccinations against the virus in his country.