He is a connoisseur of public health.
Doctor Serge Smadja is the head of SOS Médecins.
These practitioners, who are among the last to come to patients' homes, are likely to see a role to play in the Covid vaccination campaign.
But which one?
Everything is not yet on the table, which arouses a certain impatience in them, to be able to organize themselves in the best possible way.
READ ALSO>
Covid-19: vaccination "throughout 2021"
What feedback do you have from the Covid vaccination campaign?
SERGE SMADJA.
At the moment, we do not have much details from the government on how it plans to organize this campaign.
We are in regular contact with the regional health agencies (ARS) but, as it stands, we have no feedback.
However, in order to be able to make our own arrangements, whether to start vaccination at the end of December or the beginning of January, decisions should not be delayed.
We wonder.
Why do you need quick instructions?
Vaccination of populations presupposes flawless organization.
For example, we need to be able to organize precisely our on-call tours with colleagues to know who will be able to work or not during this period.
This is anticipated a minimum.
If we have to store vaccines, in large quantities, we must also buy refrigerators in larger quantities.
However, for the moment, we do not have details on these questions.
We understand that the situation is complex, but we must not fall behind if we are to meet the January deadlines.
VIDEO. Emmanuel Macron: "I will not make vaccination compulsory"
Have you had any details on the type of vaccines you would need to administer?
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
For the moment no.
However, we will need to be given as much information as possible on the subject.
What are their benefits, but also their possible contraindications.
Is a particular vaccine recommended for a particular type of person and another vaccine for another person, depending on their age or medical history?
If we want general practitioners to be able to play their role, by reassuring patients, we must ourselves already be informed.
READ ALSO>
Vaccines against Covid-19: why it is not only the percentage of effectiveness that counts
How could SOS doctors concretely participate in the vaccination campaign?
We are awaiting instructions, but we have several collective practices, in "fixed point", in different towns, which can allow the vaccinations to be carried out.
This may be the case in particular at the headquarters of our association in Paris, boulevard Port-Royal (13th arrondissement), where we are already carrying out other vaccinations for travel-related illnesses… which are at a standstill for the moment.
We can also do home vaccinations.
We are ready to help the public authorities if they wish to appeal to us.
You don't want the mistakes of the 2010 pandemic influenza campaign to repeat.
What were they?
I remember it very well because I was already at SOS Médecins.
In 2010, faced with the risk of pandemic influenza, the State had decreed that vaccinations would be done in gymnasiums, under the control of officials, with a purely administrative logic.
There were a few hospital practitioners, but clearly the general practitioner was not associated with this device.
Result: people did not come to be vaccinated.
Of course, the influenza pandemic was not very important, but we must reflect on this failure and learn the right lessons.
Who better than the attending physician, or the SOS physician, to vaccinate the population?
There is such mistrust in France against vaccination that this aspect should not be neglected.
Do you think that the State has not learned the lessons of 2010 in terms of health policy?
In the speech, the tone changed.
We are assured that the lessons have been learned, and that much more is being done to involve private doctors and health users.
But concretely, this is not seen for the moment in this vaccination campaign against the Covid-19.
