I guess if I were in the French system and unable to get vaccinated I might conclude it’s a bit of a shambles as well.
However the fact remains that as a nation France is now managing > 400k doses most days (weekends, especially Sundays remain a weak spot) and has over 12.3 million vaccinated and 4.4 million who have received both doses so I don’t think it is fair to conclude the whole thing is a shambles because of local difficulties.
Are they? compared to what?
France is in line with the European average and better than many other countries. Not as well as the UK but that was as much (or more) luck than judgement.
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The problem looks to be the main cities are fine but most of France is rural where progress is pitifully slow and inadequate.
We are very rural, and everyone round here who wishes a vaccine and is eligible or in the older age category seems to have had at least one.
It seems to be very variable across departments, as a whole our department seems to be doing better than others which is perhaps because when the vaccination campaign started at Christmas the numbers here were very bad. So they shipped in extra vaccine.
So distributing vaccine according to case numbers and need rather than population levels.
I disagree. For once Johnson AND his team deserve some credit.
A link to an interview with Kate Bingham (ex?) chair of the Vaccine Taskforce is below.
Bingham is the wife of a Tory MP so this is still jobs for the boys (and girls).
They just lucked out and it happened that she came good.
I travelled back from my place in France to Ireland in January. I needed the PCR test. It’s quite straight forward to get tested. It’s all free and localized directly with labs. Each area has a lab that offers testing locally. There is no need business for private testing because anyone can have a test in France for free, not just those with symptoms. You will find a link on the French govt website to the testing centers, you make an appointment to go for a test and voilla. Even for non residents it’s free I had two tests in January for travel. Be warned though some labs are faster at turnaround times than others but you can ask them to mark it as urgent for travel. My second test result was returned within 14 hours.
Is your permanent residence in France or Ireland (or, put another way, do you have a Carte Vitale)?
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Hi Thomas,
If, when you get here, you need any help with véhicule related stuff, give me a shout. I work for Renault and ANTS, (DVLA equivalent), is my daily affair.
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Thanks for your kind offer, I will probably need help when I get settled, when I am sorted with my move I will open a new thread in the Cars section. 
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I came over on the 17th(8 cars in the tunnel train), stayed in rouen overnight and drove down to Haute vienne the next day. They stamped my passport, asked to see the covid test email print out,didnt ask for the declaration. Passed one gendarmerie check point that luckily ignored me- got quite a few looks and hand gestures the further south I got(UK plates). Now I have to isolate for 7 days- and get another test at the end of it.
@phasesonix
Hi Laurence Welcome to SF.
A small administration task if you don’t mind. Please amend your registration to show your first name and last name as per site T&C’s. Thank you.
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So confused about border rules. We are starting to see UK reg cars, but Macron’s latest suggest that this is not authorised until mid June?
I think that is tourists in general - the rules for the UK have been somewhat more relaxed for a while.
At things stand & up to May 17 you have to have a valid reason to leave the UK - that can be a visit connected with buying, selling or renting a property including preparation for rental but you need to be able to prove this is the case.
You can enter France but need a negative Covid test not more than 72 hours before you arrive and there is a voluntary 7 day quarantine and test at the end of that.
See: www.interieur.gouv.fr
UK along with NZ and Australia has been for some weeks now on a small list of about 6 countries that France allows to come here for any purpose including tourism.
Other posters are correct UK still restricted travel at their end to travel only for a limited list of reasons.
It’s amazing how many owners of holiday homes in France are exceptionally planning to rent them out this year when normally they’d just come for a holiday themselves.
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Well, I have given up - too much stuff which officialdom will not decide until way too close to the planned trip to organise (i.e which tests & when, self-isolation or not etc). The main show stopper is not knowing whether my employer will allow me to work remotely to cover any period of quarantine on return.
As France is likely to be “amber”, at least initially, this kills the trip because I don’t want to take 5 days leave for the trip then “waste” eight days to cover the quarantine.
The ferry has been rebooked again (5 times now and £23.80 a pop - this trip runs a risk in costing me more in cancellation fees than the actual price of the crossing).
Feeling very glum right now.
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Just to upset you some more, relatives have just travelled over via the tunnel so technically travelled under. Test carried out by Boots £99 and result in 24 hours. Border checks were for covid shots and negative test, other than passport stamp straight forward.
That in itself doesn’t bother me too much though I’d have to bend the rules to travel out of the UK at present. £99 for a test is a bit steep but not a show stopper and it’s gone down a bit as, when I checked a couple of weeks ago, Boots wanted £120.
The difficult bits are the quarantine periods - currently it’s voluntary for 7 days in France which is liveable-with, though I’d break quarantine just a little to get some food shopping in - but that would be pretty much the only reason to leave the house/garden.
The killer, as above, is quarantine back in the UK - which your relatives will also have to do.
The mood music at work is no firm decision but likely to be that “predictable” quarantine will have to be taken as annual or unpaid leave (i.e if the rules changed while I was in France I could work from home while isolating, otherwise I have to book the necessary amount of leave).
That means 8 extra days for 1 week in France - a one week trip becomes not worth it and a two week trip would be nearly 4 weeks off work (which they won’t let me have anyway).
Plus I need to give 6 weeks notice of any annual leave.
I can’t say 1st week in June would be impossible but if I am going to cancel the leave they want me to do so fairly quickly. It seems more sensible to move the gamble to the beginning of July, but it’s depressing having to do so.
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