The deadline seems to be approaching with each new triumphant announcement from a pharmaceutical group.
Even if a vaccine against Covid-19 were to be developed tomorrow, the state would face a considerable challenge: convincing the population to volunteer.
For now, opinion studies indicate that approximately one in two French people would be rather resistant to it.
It is Laura, 32, who believes that she "does not have enough perspective".
It is Anne-Sophie, a school teacher in Brittany, "suspicious" of possible "side effects".
It is Vincent, who alone sums up the position of many: “Me, I prefer to wait”.
For the epidemic to end, at least 60% of French people would need to have immunity to the virus.
Much more, therefore, than the 3% of citizens who have officially contracted the virus since March.
For the State, the outcome seems inevitable: a hesitant population should be encouraged as much as possible to be vaccinated, the possibility of making such a vaccine compulsory being ruled out for the moment.
" Strategic axis "
Contacted by us, the High Authority for Health confirms that this is a “strategic axis” of the recent work of its various committees.
Above all, no question of repeating the relative failure of the campaign, eleven years ago, of vaccination against the H1N1 flu.
First imperative: keep it simple.
"The whole organization must be at the service of membership and acceptance of vaccination," says one within the authority.
And to take as a counter-example "the extremely state-owned organization" of 2009, with remote vaccination sites, such as stadiums, or the exclusion of daily caregivers.
This time, we are promised, “learned societies” and other “medical unions” are an integral part of the thinking process.
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Difficult to know more, however, about the government's communication strategy.
Contacted, neither the office of the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, nor the Directorate General of Health wished to reveal their plans.
Impossible, also, to obtain confirmation of information from BFMTV, according to which a “Mr. or Mrs. Vaccine” could be named in order to carry the communication on this subject.
A "controversial" dimension
In an opinion issued in early November, the High Authority for Health, however, lists a series of recommendations specifically dedicated to “user engagement” in the face of the vaccine.
A challenge in an epidemic which "has, in many ways, taken on an unprecedented controversial dimension compared to other seasonal epidemics or recurring risks," she notes.
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According to this document, the specific context of Covid-19 should encourage the authorities to show maximum "transparency" in their communication on the potential "side" and "undesirable" effects of the treatment, but also on "the state stocks according to the graduated arrivals of the various vaccines ”.
For Philippe Duclos, former executive secretary of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunization at WHO, caregivers are the most able to carry out this mission.
"They are the interface with patients", explains this trained epidemiologist, now director of the advanced course in vaccinology at the University of Geneva, in partnership with the Mérieux Foundation.
Citizen Forum
The "Vaccine Committee" of the Scientific Council imagines the possibility of setting up "a participatory, open and transparent approach, of the
citizen forum
type
".
"This approach can promote transparency, adhesion and trust", he believes in an opinion delivered in July, referring to "a shared space of contradictory debates".
As a vaccination referent at Médecins Sans Frontières, John Johnson notably worked on the deployment of an experimental vaccine against Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo, last year.
In addition to classic communication media, such as "brochures" and "radio messages", this American nurse remembers the involvement, in the device, of "community leaders" to whom the association had called.
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“Once they understood our approach, they in turn discussed with those around them,” he recalls.
It took time but it was decisive in understanding our message ”.
All things considered, we will have to see to what extent the government manages to mobilize, if necessary, spokespersons among the population.
And the ability of these relays to convince, in turn, their most recalcitrant relatives. "