"We are always better than the others in Corsica, but from there to exceed 100% ..." Gerard Olivieri prefers to smile.
Like many islanders, this retired general practitioner on the Isle of Beauty was surprised to learn the figures for vaccination in nursing homes and in long-term care units (USLD) in Corse-du-Sud.
Since February 11, more than 100% (!) Of residents have received at least one dose of vaccine, according to data communicated daily by Public Health France (SPF).
But the reality on the ground is a little different.
This information is entered in the Vaccine Covid information system (SI-Vac), created on January 4, and published on the data.gouv.fr site and on the Géodes platform.
Different indicators have appeared over the days.
Vaccination coverage in nursing homes and USLDs, i.e. the number of vaccinated compared to the total number of residents, has been available since February 1.
From February 12, the rate displayed in the data for Corse-du-Sud fell to 100%.
Not that vaccinated residents were "removed".
Rather, it seems that the counter has been deliberately blocked so as not to show an absurd number.
Indeed, the number of residents vaccinated has continued to climb in recent days, from 988 to 1003 vaccinated.
Using the same scale as that on February 11, we find a vaccination coverage of 103.9% on February 13.
The 100% barrier was also crossed in Paris, and it is almost reached in Haute-Loire (99.1%).
These figures are all the more inconsistent because it is hard to believe that all nursing home and USLD residents have been vaccinated in a department,
especially
if it is important like Paris.
In fact, to understand how we can end up with such figures, we must look at the definition that Public Health France gives to “vaccinated residents”.
A counting method that has "limits"
These are not identified as such in the Covid Vaccine database.
The health agency groups together two categories of people under this term of "vaccinated residents": those who are in an nursing home or a USLD and who are at least 65 years old, and those vaccinated anywhere but "identified a priori by the Cnam as residing in Ehpad or USLD ”.
This methodology has "limits", recognizes Public Health France.
On the one hand, it can lead to an underestimation if an Ehpad is not entered as such by mistake.
"The numbers of people vaccinated and vaccine coverage may be underestimated in several regions, especially in those with entry defects in Covid vaccine", reads the last weekly epidemiological point.
On the other hand, there may be an overestimation if a person living in nursing homes is under 65 and is therefore not considered a “resident”, for example.
READ ALSO>
Should we be worried about seeing nursing home residents positive for Covid-19 after the vaccine?
Morning essentials newsletter
A tour of the news to start the day
Subscribe to the newsletterAll newsletters
Is this last point wrong for Corsica and for Paris?
Not necessarily, especially since the Regional Agency of Corsica confirms the figure of “1003 residents of nursing homes and USLD vaccinated” on February 13.
Because the total number of residents taken into account in the calculation of vaccination coverage could also give rise to bugs.
Public Health France is based on the number of places open per department and on a “national average occupancy rate”, dating from 2015 for nursing homes and from 2019 for USLDs.
Under these conditions, how can we ensure that we have a reliable number of elderly residents in the departments?
If it is lower than the reality, it can result in an artificially higher than 100% vaccination coverage rate.
Perhaps this is wrong in Paris, even if this question is all the more significant in territories with small numbers such as in Corse-du-Sud (where the number of residents is the lowest, according to our calculations ).
"75 to 80% of residents wish to be vaccinated"
Asked about this specific case during a conference on Friday, February 12, Public Health France replied that it had spoken with its local branch in Corsica and that nothing had seemed inconsistent to it.
The last known vaccination coverage rate was then 99.3%, before it fell beyond 100% a few hours later (consolidated data are always communicated within 24 hours).
"We knew that this was likely to happen," said a source at the heart of the matter.
Relaunched for more details, the health agency was not able to provide us with any answers to the publication of the article.
It would be more annoying if this bug in Corsica also existed in other territories, without being able to immediately perceive it in the figures. Because the indicators in whole France could also find themselves distorted. However, it is impossible to know at this time and the health agency believes that the vaccination coverage figures displayed at the national level, namely 72.8% with at least one dose and 30% with two doses, are "reliable". These rates correspond in any case to the feedback from the field available to Pascal Champvert, president of the Association of Directors in the Service of the Elderly (AD-PA). "We are around 75 to 80% of residents wishing to be vaccinated, the vast majority of which have already been with at least the first dose," he says.