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| - France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy has been vaccinated against Covid-19, a source close to him confirmed Friday, rejecting suggestions the 66-year-old ex-leader had skipped the queue. The vaccination campaign in France is currently giving the jab to those aged 75 and over, though younger medical professionals and people at risk due to medical conditions also qualify. Sarkozy received the vaccine on the basis of a "medical prescription", said an aide who asked not to be identified by name. The aide did not say why Sarkozy had been granted the prescription. The former president "like any citizen, has a right to a private life and medical secrecy," the aide said. Weekly magazine L'Express reported Thursday that Sarkozy was vaccinated at a military hospital in January, prompting murmurings of discontent amongst Twitter users over how he had got the jab so fast. France was left embarrassed by a snail-pace start to its vaccine campaign though the effort has accelerated and, according to government data, over 2.4 million people have now got their first dose, of whom over one million have had both doses. The government hopes to move onto vaccinating those aged 65 to 74 between the end of March and mid-April. L'Express said Sarkozy, known for his impatience, had been frustrated over the slow pace of the campaign and wanted to see big vaccine centres set up. France's Health Minister Olivier Veran, 40, who as a doctor received his vaccine on live TV earlier this month, declined to comment when asked about Sarkozy on Thursday, pointing to medical secrecy. Sarkozy, president from 2007 to 2012, has been mired in legal troubles since leaving office but remains a popular figure for many on the right. On March 1, a court will give its verdict in a corruption trial involving Sarkozy, who faces up to four years in jail if found guilty. He is also named in several other probes. Nonetheless his latest memoir, "The Time of Storms," topped best-seller lists for weeks in France last summer. ib-sjw/js/jv
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