Every day, France seems to put a little more its European donkey cap on vaccination.
The campaign, which has just started in France, is already under fire from critics.
And for good reason, only a few hundred people had so far been vaccinated, against thousands among our German or Italian neighbors.
A rhythm initially assumed by the executive, but which raises many questions.
Has France ordered enough vaccines?
Yes, assures the government.
He says we currently have 1,000 times more doses than currently vaccinated people, with 560,000 doses of vaccine in stock at the moment.
60,000 were received on December 26 and 500,000 on December 29, according to details from the Ministry of Health.
The latter must also receive, from this Wednesday, January 6, 500,000 Pfizer / BioNTech doses each week until the end of February, as confirmed by government spokesman Gabriel Attal in our columns.
As the independent site Covid Tracker notes, at the end of February the executive should therefore be in possession of 2 million doses and could vaccinate a million people.
A stock that would perfectly match the objectives of the government, which had set itself to achieve vaccination of a million people at risk by February.
Has France ordered the “right” vaccines?
No error in the orders, "things were well managed at the level of the European Union which had anticipated pre-orders and made sure not to put all its eggs in the same basket", assures the Parisian, Eric Billy, researcher and member of the collective Du Côté de la Science.
It even, according to the specialist, made sure to vary the number of suppliers to avoid unpleasant surprises.
But one thing had not been anticipated: the delay in bringing Sanofi's vaccine to market.
"The European Union had ordered 400 million doses from Sanofi and France had taken 90 million", continues the scientist.
So if the use of other laboratories has made it possible to avoid running out of fuel, the news of this delay has all the same undermined a large part of the French plan.
However, can we say that France did wrong to favor a French laboratory?
"There is no need to criticize national preferences," says Eric Billy.
The English turn to AstraZeneca more easily, the Germans to Pfizer… ”, he says.
Unfortunately, Sanofi represented 40% of the European order, and even more for France.
Were we logistically prepared?
Having vaccines is good, being able to distribute them is better, some elected officials and doctors in the field say today.
If the vaccine stocks arrive as planned, "we have neither the organization nor the logistics to target the population at the start", according to Eric Billy.
“Given the social and economic conditions imposed on us by this crisis, having more than 500,000 doses blocked in the fridge because of an organizational funnel is unacceptable,” he said.
What if the solution to speed up the pace was on the side of local elected officials?
In Raincy (Seine-Saint-Denis), the mayor (SE) Jean-Michel Genestier intends to fill “this gaping hole in terms of logistics”.
He has already provided for the provision of a municipal sports hall to speed up the vaccination campaign in his town, "with a reception, several consultation spaces prior to vaccination, and cells intended for vaccination", describes- he.
The sine qua non: obtain the vaccines and the green light from the State upstream.
"If we have that, we can be operational in 72 hours," he says.
And if accelerating the vaccine rate involves putting municipal funds on the table, never mind.
“I am ready to buy freezers, advance Jean-Michel Genestier.
This is not our role, of course, but the only objective is the preservation of populations.
"
Why did we start by vaccinating nursing home residents?
This is the choice made by the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS), and followed by the government.
This "prioritization" aims to "reduce deaths and hospitalizations", by first targeting the public at risk, the elderly and nursing home residents, recalled the president of the HAS, Élisabeth Bouvet, interviewed on BFMTV on Monday .
A schedule, responsible according to some doctors and elected officials, for the delay in vaccination in France.
They criticize in particular the "cumbersome" procedure necessary to obtain the consent of the residents of a retirement home.
Why does collecting consent seem to take so long?
Information, again shared by Axel Kahn this Monday morning on France Inter, suggests that nursing home residents benefit from a withdrawal period of five days after having given their consent for the vaccine.
In the protocol, “we had planned a whole series of controls.
First of all, five days between a first consultation in nursing homes and a withdrawal capacity.
A consent that could be withdrawn with this important delay, it is extremely rare ”, declared the geneticist in the microphone of the radio.
But nothing in the 45 pages of the vaccination protocol mentions such a withdrawal period.
According to the official document, it is necessary "to establish, in the respect of medical secrecy, the list of potential candidates for vaccination (residents and professionals), at the latest 5 days before the date of delivery, to be able to communicate to the interlocutor reference (PUI or affiliate dispensary) the precise number of doses required ”.
A logistical recommendation therefore.
“A resident can refuse the injection two seconds before it is done.
There is a period of 5 days between the collection of the last consents and the day of the vaccination for logistical reasons, ”advances on Twitter the doctor Laurent Fignon, hospital practitioner and geriatrician.
On the other hand, there is a pre-vaccination consultation, set up after the recommendations of the National Consultative Ethics Committee to enable the informed consent of residents to be obtained.
"It is a pledge of confidence for our fellow citizens", once again justified the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, on December 31.
An excessive precaution according to doctors, joined by the Academy of medicine which calls for "to simplify and shorten as much as possible the vaccination procedures in nursing homes".
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But the idea is far from appealing to everyone.
"We are discriminated against by age, we say:
the consent of the elderly, does not matter,
" slips bitterly Pascal Champvert, the president of the Association of Directors at the Service of the Elderly (AD -PA).
The search for legal guardians responsible for deciding for residents under guardianship can finally generate some delays.
Not because of "bureaucratic" problems, assures Pascal Champvert, but because "there is a problem of the right to protect the elderly".
What is the strategy of our neighbors?
In Israel, where a third of those over 60 have already been vaccinated, the government has chosen to address seniors more directly and reach a wider audience: thus all patients over 60, or considered to be risk, have received an SMS from their Social Security fund so that they can make a first appointment to get vaccinated.
In Germany, the army provided assistance in setting up logistics and the list of people to be vaccinated as a priority is extended: in addition to nursing home residents, there are all seniors, all caregivers as well as teachers and police.
In this country as in the United Kingdom, the majority of vaccinations also take place in dedicated centers, managed by general practitioners and not in practices, in which the coverage is necessarily longer.
