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PARIS, April 11 (Reuters) - France will lengthen the periodbetween the first and second shots of mRNA anti-COVID vaccinesto six weeks from four weeks as of April 14 to accelerate theinoculation campaign, Health Minister Olivier Veran told the JDDnewspaper on Sunday.

"That will allow us to vaccinate more quickly withoutreducing protection," Veran told the paper.

France has approved use of the Pfizer/BioNTech PFE.N 22UAy.DE and Moderna mRNA vaccines.

Veran also said that from Monday the AstraZeneca vaccinewould be made available to all over-55s and not just those withserious pre-existing conditions.

After a glacial start, France's vaccine rollout is findingits stride but daily new COVID-19 infections still averagearound 40,000 and the country will almost certainly cross the100,000 deaths threshold this week.

Veran said there were signs that a third nationwide lockdownimposed last weekend was beginning to slow the infection rate.

"It remains very high," Veran told the JDD. "We can expectthat after the period of stabilisation comes the fall. But forthat, we must keep going."

(Reporting by Richard Lough; Editing by Daniel Wallis) ((Email: richard.lough@thomsonreuters.com; Tel: +33 1 80 98 1245 ;))