"I've never seen this in six years, people go crazy!"
», Loose Erika, pharmacist in Paris.
It's the same raid on anti-flu vaccines throughout Ile-de-France.
"We sold in three days what we sold in a month and a half last year" illustrates Pierre Béguerie, president of the council of the order of dispensing pharmacists.
“After a week, more than 60% of pharmacists had run out of vaccines…” Since the start of the campaign, on October 13, more than 1.29 million doses have been sold in pharmacies in the Ile-de-France region, ie a 57% increase compared to the same period in 2019.
Guy, 60, paid the price.
And it is not for lack of having anticipated.
Since he has "a plastic aorta", he receives an annual security voucher to encourage him to be vaccinated against the seasonal flu.
“The doctor told me that it could wait until November 5, this is the time when the virus begins to circulate, to reach the peak at Christmas, reports the retiree from Seraincourt (Val-d'Oise).
So I wanted to buy it and put it in the fridge.
I went to my usual pharmacy on Friday October 16, three days after the start of the campaign.
But I came across a poster: no vaccine.
I asked that one put one aside for me, but she said:
No need, we have no more and no order possible
!
"
He ended up finding a dose in "a small pharmacy in a town in the Eure" where the vaccine was issued to him after checking his vital card to ensure that he is part of the priority public.
“But for my neighbor, who has stents in his arteries, it's done.
There is such a shortage, he cannot find any, Guy worries.
The doctor told me it was worse than the masks at the start of the pandemic.
"
Considered vulnerable because of a heart problem, Guy, 60, received a voucher from the CPAM to be vaccinated against the flu.
Confronted with the shortage of vaccines, he finally found one by chance in a small dispensary in a village in the Eure region.
LP / AF
In the Oise, Marie-Jo, 74, has had a blast, too.
From October 15, her security letter in hand, explaining to her that it was even more important this year with the Covid, she went around pharmacies ... in vain.
“There is no longer any in all of Beauvais.
I left my phone number with the pharmacist, and I still don't have an answer, ”she sighs.
The manufacturer Sanofi explains that the manufacture of such a vaccine is a race against time ”.
"It takes six to seven months", indicates this manufacturer which indicates to have produced "250 million seasonal vaccines in the world in 2020, and 20% more doses than last year in France".
Not yet sufficient obviously.
Anger of the mayor of Gennevilliers
For the mayor of Gennevilliers, Patrice Leclerc (PCF), "there is a flagrant lack of anticipation and not very serious management during a pandemic".
Friday, he split a letter to the prefect of Hauts-de-Seine.
“Every year, we launch a vaccination campaign aimed at our municipal employees,” he writes.
Impossible, this year, to find vaccines.
Without a vaccine, we increase the risk "of seeing a drop in the supply of care, of disrupting the functioning of the municipal health center and of seeing the dedicated Covid center malfunction."
"
"We had to provide more vaccines as soon as the Covid arrived," scolds Dr Guirec Loyer, boss of the city's municipal health center.
We are on the front line anyway.
It's like going to the front without being sufficiently armed… ”
Newsletter - Most of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le Parisien
I'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to enable you to receive our news and commercial offers.
Learn more
But municipal officials are not a priority, retorts a health insurance agent.
In its opinion of 20 May, the High Authority for Health recalled the need "to ensure that the doses of vaccines available cover as a priority the target population", that is to say those suffering from certain chronic pathologies, aged from over 65, or pregnant women.
For health insurance, protecting people at risk also means preserving the health system already in great strain with the Covid.
"Awareness of policyholders"
The priority public, targeted by more vouchers (2.5 million Ile-de-France residents) was not mistaken.
"We can clearly see the awareness of policyholders who are vaccinated this year to avoid influenza and its severe complications which lead to hospitalizations", summarizes Aurélie Combas-Richard, general manager of the primary health insurance fund (CPAM) in Seine -Saint-Denis, where 29.4% of fragile people were vaccinated before November, against 12.9% last year on the same date, even though Seine-Saint-Denis is the department of Ile- de-France, where people are least vaccinated against influenza (36.9% in 2019, against a regional rate of 43.8%).
Health crisis requires, the health insurance fund has even postponed its internal vaccination campaign, intended for agents.
But this is not the case everywhere, as evidenced by the vaccinations that have continued in some companies, regardless of the age or health of the public.
“As I was unable to get my usual delivery, I go around pharmacies to pick up 30 here, 50 there… explains Claude
(the first name has been changed)
, a company nurse.
Our job is to do prevention and avoid contagions.
The pharmacists who agree to sell him a few dozen doses do not even ask him for a professional card.
“This year, there are plenty of other people who want to be vaccinated,” said Emmanuel Siou, president of pharmacists in Val-d'Oise.
Executives or managers who do not want to get sick, those who think that the vaccine may be able to protect them from the coronavirus ... And who come before the priorities.
Me, it's simple, I was not delivered.
The state blocked my order to stock up!
"
Vaccines in stock, which will be distributed over the weeks
This state stock is a first, indicates the Ministry of Health.
“1.45 million doses are already insured, indicates the Ministry of Health.
This stock will gradually allow vaccine doses to be put into circulation from mid-November, with the largest volume expected in mid-December.
"
The Ministry of Health specifies that surveys are underway to assess the need in health establishments and nursing homes in order to vaccinate high priority audiences: 1.5 million professionals and 600,000 residents.
Sanofi indicates that it has had American doses imported, "FluzoneHD" intended for over 65s, above all, to contribute to this national stock, the distribution methods of which have yet to be specified.
In the meantime, Marie-Jo is still waiting for a call from her pharmacist ...