The Ministry of Health will experiment with vaccination against monkeypox in pharmacies, in three regions of France, he said Monday evening August 8.
In five pharmacies, located in Île-de-France, PACA and Hauts-de-France, pharmacists will be able to vaccinate people against monkeypox, from Wednesday, during this two-week experiment, the Ministry of Health told AFP.
Two pharmacies in Ile-de-France, two in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and one in Hauts-de-France have been selected by the regional health authorities, we add.
This experiment will test the “
organizational models between the pharmacies and the hospitals which receive the doses
”, in order to decide whether it is relevant to extend the vaccination campaign to other pharmacies.
The smallpox vaccine used for vaccination against monkeypox must be kept at a very low temperature (-80°C) and "
can only be kept for fifteen days
" once thawed, explains the ministry.
The vaccines, although single-dose, are packaged in boxes of twenty doses.
“
It will therefore be a question of evaluating whether there is no loss of doses
”, specifies the ministry.
He recalls that unlike the vaccination campaign against Covid-19, pharmacies this time will only be able to target
Target audience
The target audience includes men who have sex with men reporting multiple sexual partners, trans people reporting multiple sexual partners, sex workers and professionals working in places of sexual consumption.
Faced with criticism from associations and elected officials on the left about the slowness of the vaccination campaign, the Minister of Health François Braun said last week that he was working on an experiment with pharmacists.
To do this, a decree will be published in the Official Journal in the coming days, says the ministry.
To date, 153 vaccination centers have been opened in the territory and 20,322 people have been vaccinated as of August 4.
