The French government has defended its coronavirus vaccination policy against criticism that it is going far too slowly, with 516 vaccinations reported in the first week.

Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said the delay was down to logistics: teams had to visit elderly people in care homes and get each person's consent.

The EU began vaccinating with Pfizer/BioNTech doses on 27 December.

By Sunday morning about 240,000 had been vaccinated in Germany.

French government vows to speed up coronavirus vaccinations https://t.co/UKzkCRnf1W

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The UK has become the first country in the world to start giving people the Oxford- AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine. About a million people have already been vaccinated with the Pfizer/BioNTech drug in the UK.

Gabriel Attal, quoted by French news website LCI, said the government was following scientific advice, prioritising the elderly in care homes.

"A more gradual launch is necessary for logistical reasons: you cannot ask these people to go somewhere else in the country, and the delay is also linked to a pre-vaccination consultation and getting consent. This takes a bit more time."

France is among Europe's hardest-hit countries in the pandemic. Its Covid-19 death toll so far is 65,037 - just behind Italy and the UK. French hospitals are treating 24,780 Covid patients, BFMTV reports.

France launched its vaccinations last Monday, in line with the EU-wide roll-out. The Netherlands is the only EU country yet to start its vaccination campaign - the launch is set for 8 January.

Mr Attal insisted that the government was sticking to a target of a million people vaccinated by the end of January, as "we have just over two million doses ready".

The website CovidTracker, which collates data from French health authorities, says that by 1 January 516 people had been vaccinated in France.

CovidTracker estimates that to hit the one million target, nearly 35,000 people would have to be vaccinated daily in France.

So far the EU has only authorised the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which presents logistical challenges as it has to be stored at -70C. It is made at a factory in Puurs, Belgium.

The German government expects the Moderna vaccine to get EU authorisation on Wednesday, DPA news agency reports.

Mr Attal said the French vaccination campaign "will really take off this week and get stronger". From Wednesday, he said, "94 medical centres in France will have more than 500,000 doses to give to health professionals".

On Sunday LCI said French health professionals had sharply criticised the government's handling of the vaccination campaign.