It was ten days ago.
Asked about BFM, the Director General of Health, Jérôme Salomon, announced the next marketing, “from this week”, of Covid self-tests, “in supermarkets or in pharmacies”.
In the process, Carrefour boasted of having ordered a million of these self-tests while awaiting the official green light.
The ace !
The green light has turned red: the self-tests will probably be used by the State in massive screening campaigns, and soon authorized in pharmacies, but, according to our information, they should not however be marketed over the counter. .
“Their sale outside pharmacies is not authorized,” confirms the Directorate General of Health (DGS).
How to explain such backpedaling?
First explanation: performing this type of test on yourself is not easy.
"You have to go up to 4 cm in the nose, we can not be sure that people will do it well, some could even injure themselves," said Gilles Bonnefond, president of the Union of community pharmacists unions ( Uspo).
In our columns, this weekend, the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, did not say anything else: “I tried, and it is not as simple as we imagine.
"
And then, these self-tests show "a high proportion of false negatives", insists the DGS, which also recalls "that in the event of a positive result, it must be confirmed by a PCR test".
Finally, the question of tracing remains: what will happen tomorrow if a self-test is positive: will the sick person notify Social Security?
Will she isolate herself?
Will she prevent her contact cases?
Answer: it will depend on his goodwill.
So much for the "technical" considerations.
But there is also the political aspect: while pharmacists are currently an essential link in the vaccination strategy, does the government want to get angry with them?
However, Covid self-tests are medical devices and, as such, can only be sold in pharmacies.
"I have a letter from the minister's office confirming that for self-tests, we would not derogate from the law on the pharmaceutical monopoly", says Philippe Besset, president of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France (FSPF).
VIDEO: Covid-19: self-tests, how do they work?
Exit, therefore, a sale in supermarkets.
Most, like System U, Auchan or Casino, had also been cautious and waited to learn more about the ministerial strategy before placing an order.
As for pharmacies, we will have to wait, according to our estimates, at least three to four weeks before being able to dispose of them: the products offered by the manufacturers are currently appraised by the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) .
“It is only once the list of approved products is available on the Agency's website that we can order them,” recalls Gilles Bonnefond.
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Finally, another eagerly awaited text, the ministerial decree which will specify in particular whether the self-tests will be reimbursed.
On this last point, the DGS specifies that it could intervene, not in the event of purchase in pharmacies, but within the framework of “large-scale screening campaigns”, piloted by the State, which would be carried out intended for precarious public or high school and student populations (in particular, in the latter case, before a face-to-face return to university).