The first glance is pleasing.
In the Loire, the Alpes-Maritimes, the Indre, the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, or even Paris, the vaccination slots parade: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, with availability every twelve to fifteen minutes.
But it is enough to take a closer look at Doctolib to be disillusioned.
Unless you are a healthcare professional, the immunizing dose against a severe form of Covid will not be reserved for you.
"It is not a lack of organization but a fundamental problem: the share of vaccines allocated to France is simply not sufficient", summarizes Olivier Bouchaud, the head of infectious diseases at the Avicenne hospital. Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis), whose center performs around 120 injections per day when it could do “at least 300”.
550,000 doses of AstraZeneca in general practitioners
With 3.6 million “bitten” citizens (of which 1.1 received the two doses, ie less than 2% of the population), the disappointment is there, and it is legitimate.
However, clearings will come to pierce the long tunnel of vaccination.
First breath of fresh air next Thursday.
That's it, the immunizing vials are arriving at general practitioners.
550,000 units of AstraZeneca's product, inexpensive and easy to store, will be delivered to them on 25 February.
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Destination for the arm of patients aged 50 to 64 with a risk of developing a severe form of the disease (obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.).
"We must push the reasoning and include pharmacists, calls Carine Wolf-Thal, the president of their Order.
The challenge is to go quickly, to receive and to inject immediately.
Materially, this is not possible for general practitioners only.
Let them rely on us, on nurses, on midwives!
»Launches the professional.
On the side of the Ministry of Health, we refuse to make any false promises: "We will always be just in time in the coming weeks," we whisper rue de Ségur, while hoping to see the noose loosen.
“After the call for air created by vaccination in town, a new step will be taken in mid-March.
Vaccination will be open to the general population, every 50-64 years.
This will make it possible to keep the relationship of trust that was established with the vaccine and to repeat that, yes, gradually, we are getting there, ”we want to reassure.
Barely a month to go.
“It's both very short… and very long,” concedes Yvanie Caillé, member of the Vaccine Strategy Steering Committee, chaired by Alain Fischer, and founder of Renaloo, which helps kidney patients.
His association is currently investigating access to doses for these patients.
“It's very difficult,” she sums up.
Even what was thought to be simple, such as the possibility of vaccinating directly in dialysis centers, is proving complicated in some departments.
Yet these are very vulnerable people who go to hospitals.
The fear of a cluster with a variant is omnipresent.
There is a lot of anxiety and frustration that we hope to resolve as soon as possible, ”she explains.
Soon a fourth vaccine?
“The problem is that we added priorities to priorities.
That's 8 million vaccine candidates, while we have three times less, "grumbles pharmacologist Bernard Bégaud, former chairman of the commission on clinical trials at the Medicines Agency.
Calls on him to "hold the line" so as not to create an untenable wait, and also to better rely on the territories in a country where health is "totally centralized".
The infectious disease specialist Olivier Bouchaud hopes for an enrichment of the offer.
“The more vaccines there are, the more we vaccinate”, summarizes the professor.
After Pfizer, Moderna and Astra, a fourth could arrive on the market: the Janssen, 66% efficient according to its Johnson & Johnson laboratory.
And an advantage: only one injection required.
Its request for authorization should lead to a decision by the European Medicines Agency by the end of March.
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"The labs are also working on the possible adaptation of their product to variants", continues the Ministry of Health.
In front of them, vaccination has never been so urgent.
After a reinforcement of doses in Moselle, 3,500 more will be sent "urgently" to Nice and all the Alpes-Maritimes, a department which is raising the concern of Minister Olivier Véran, who was there this Saturday visiting.
To the point that partial or total containment is on the table.
