French doctor Christian Allard has noted a side-effect from the record numbers of COVID-19 infections sweeping the country – some people are cancelling appointments for booster doses at his vaccination centre because they have tested positive. Public health authorities in Europe and North America are encouraging people to get the vaccine booster doses as the best protection against surging rates of infection, driven in particular by the Omicron coronavirus variant. France recorded a record 208,000 new daily cases on Tuesday, with the health minister describing a “tsunami” of infection.


