(Adds quotes from health minister)

PARIS, Feb 8 - French Health Minister Olivier Veran said onMonday that he continued to support the AstraZenecaCOVID-19 vaccine, arguing it provided sufficient protectionagainst "nearly all the variants" of the virus.

Veran was shown on French television receiving theAstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination centre in the cityof Melun, in the Paris region.

"The AstraZeneca vaccine reinforces and amplifies ourvaccination strategy", Veran told reporters.

"We do our best to prevent the spread of variants", he alsosaid.

A British junior health minister said on Monday there was noevidence that the AstraZeneca vaccine did not prevent death orserious illness, and added South Africa had only imposed atemporary halt on using the vaccine.

South Africa decided to put on hold use of AstraZeneca'sCOVID-19 shot in its vaccination programme after data showed itgave minimal protection against mild-to-moderate infectioncaused by the country's dominant coronavirus variant.(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Dominique Vidalon and MatthieuProtard; Editing by Jon Boyle and Louise Heavens)