1962. This is the number of doses of vaccine administered between July 12 and 23 by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams to people living in very precarious situations.
A figure that has risen sharply since the announcements of Emmanuel Macron.
“
In the space of two weeks, we doubled the vaccinations, which we had started at the beginning of June,
” explains Corinne Torre, head of mission for France at MSF.
"
The precarious are probably afraid of losing accommodation places if they are not vaccinated or of no longer being able to access day centers
," she analyzes.
Read also: Covid-19: is France the country with the most fragile unvaccinated people in Europe?
Vaccination of people living in very precarious situations was however slow to start.
While in November 2020, an epidemiological survey by MSF, Epicenter and the Institut Pasteur, carried out between late June and early July 2020, revealed very high exposure to the virus in places where people in great poverty gather in Île-de-France. France, this public was not granted access to vaccination until May 24, 2021. Several associations then mobilized to organize vaccination campaigns and facilitate its use by these people often far from the care path.
"More difficult to reach the public on the street"
This is particularly the case of the association Aux captifs la liberation, which was decided after attending a meeting organized by the coordination of the marauding of the Samu social, with actors from the federation of solidarity actors, the town hall from Paris and Dr Lichtenberger. “
Within the team, we all took a positive view of having these people who we know well and who we welcome in our branch, who are very precarious, sometimes with great psychological problems, vaccinated. We said to ourselves that the only way they would adhere to the vaccination was through the confidence they have in us, so we decided to do it,
”explains Antoine Tayeur, head of the branch of the association in Paris 10th district, near the Gare du Nord.
The first operation, carried out on June 16, vaccinated 42 people. Only five of them did not show up for their second dose on July 21. "
These are people that we know well so we will be able to go find them and allow them to be vaccinated elsewhere
", specifies Antoine Tayeur. The association plans to conduct a third campaign in September, especially since some people came to receive their first dose on July 21.
At the Samu social de Paris also, 70% of people accommodated in care and accommodation centers have been vaccinated to date.
On the other hand, "
it is more difficult to reach the public in the street on the patrols and the families accommodated in the hotel
", concedes Armelle Pasquet-Cadre, director of the medical and care pole at Samusocial of Paris.
Samusocial therefore coordinated with the anti-covid mediation teams (MLAC) of ARS Île-de-France, so that awareness could be raised before the passage of vaccination trucks.
Insufficient means
In a press release published on July 1, 2021, the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS) stressed that it was “
necessary to deploy appropriate communication aimed at these audiences
”, and that “out-
of-town systems
” should be “
continued and amplified
”, through awareness-raising actions, the creation of ephemeral vaccination centers, physical support or even assistance in making appointments. The association Aux captifs la Liberation thus offers individual support to vaccination centers, at the request of people accommodated within the association. And from next week in La Villette, the MSF mobile clinic will be present five days a week, compared to two currently.
Read also: "We feel the storm coming": in Strasbourg, doctors are preparing to face the 4th wave of Covid-19
But while the 4th wave of Covid-19 is looming, associations fear they will not be able to continue the momentum.
“
We have concerns about August, even more with the strengthening of the health pass.
The medical teams need to rest and will disappear from these audiences.
It is absolutely essential that there be human and financial resources that are increased during this period, because the precarious will be particularly affected and left on the margins for lack of means to access a vaccination
”, warns Corinne Torre.
Read also: Health pass: the law will come into force on August 9, Attal announces
A concern shared by Samusocial. “
The problem is human resources: we have a shortage of caregivers, so it is very difficult to carry out our primary missions. We are forced to modify certain actions or our schedules because we are sorely lacking in personnel,
”regrets Armelle Pasquet-Cadre. The alert is not, however, new. As of June 25, the National Academy of Medicine pointed out in a press release that the initiatives taken to vaccinate vulnerable populations remained "
ad hoc, disparate and in total, insufficient
", and that it was important to "
deploy human and financial resources specifically. dedicated
”, recalling that“
the vaccination policy (had to) be inclusive to be effective
”.
In a press release on Wednesday July 28, MSF stressed that "it
is urgent that the health authorities release more financial and human resources to guarantee the vaccination of these people
". Because while hospitalizations are increasing again, "
it seems essential to us to do everything we can over the month and a half that we have left,
" recalls Armelle Pasquet-Cadre.
