France has given a first jab of a vaccine against Covid-19 to 10 million people, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Thursday amid an acceleration in the rollout after a sluggish start. "It's a very good performance. France is vaccinating a lot," Castex said after visiting an inoculation centre east of Paris, hailing the figure of 10 million first jabs one week ahead of a government target. France fell behind its European neighbours after the start of vaccinations in January, but is now jabbing on average around 200,000-300,000 people per day. EU members have faced a shortage of doses which has been blamed on a centralised purchasing and distribution system. French President Emmanuel Macron has compared European efforts to a "diesel engine". "It starts slowly but it goes far," he told Greece's ERT channel last month. The government has forecast 20 million first time jabs by mid-May and 30 million by mid-June. jmt-are/adp/jh/rl