Officially, since Thursday February 25, occupational physicians can vaccinate against Covid-19, employees aged 50 and over with co-morbidities (cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity, cancer, etc.).
But this vaccination campaign is taking time to be put in place.
Several reasons explain these delays.
Information deadlines
First, the information delays delay the process.
“
We send an email to member companies to tell them: you have an obligation to tell your employees that they have the possibility of being vaccinated.
However, not all companies have yet issued the instructions,
”explains Denys Brunel president of SEST (Service aux entreprises pour la santé au travail), an inter-company service in Issy-les-Moulineaux, which operates in 6,500 companies in Paris. and in Ile-de-France, which represents 105,000 employees, all sectors combined (except construction), from small to large companies.
Employees who so wish - vaccination is done on a voluntary basis - make an appointment themselves with the occupational health service.
This process is confidential vis-à-vis the employer and remains subject to medical confidentiality.
The company does not have to know if an employee is eligible because of his state of health, nor if he wishes to be vaccinated.
And "
everything must be done to respect the confidentiality of vaccinations vis-à-vis employers,
" insists the protocol.
For next week, the appointment book is starting to fill up.
"
For next Tuesday we have some vaccine registrations
", slips Denys Brunel.
On the side of CMIE, another inter-company occupational health service, which manages 15,000 companies, which represents about 400,000 employees, the appointment book is also black for next week.
“
We attack on Tuesday.
The week is full.
We have 50 injections a day.
The goal is to reach between 500 and 600 per week.
Then a thousand among our members
”, explains Olivier Van-Hauwaert, General Director of CMIE.
Doses delivered drop by drop
It is also necessary that the doses of vaccines be delivered on time.
Several occupational health service doctors had to delay vaccination because they could not get supplies.
Denys Brunel of SES explains having had to postpone the vaccination of the first patients initially scheduled for Tuesday March 2, to March 9.
“
Until now there were no vaccines!
It was very tense,
”he reacts.
Whatever the demand, the occupational physician cannot order doses according to his real needs.
He must comply with the protocol of the medical labor inspectorate.
“
Today, we are dependent on the flow of vaccines.
We have three vials per doctor per week.
There are 10 vaccines in a bottle
, ”explains Olivier Van-Hauwaert.
“
We place orders week after week.
"
A whole logistics
In addition, these centers had to be equipped.
“
We need adequate premises.
Two vaccination cells and a space to rest were set up.
We have been waiting for eight days for a refrigerator equipped with a temperature control device necessary for the AstraZeneca
”, which can be stored at very low temperature, points out Denys Brunel of the SES.
Not to mention that vaccination against Covid is in addition to the other tasks of occupational physicians.
"
Our missions have not stopped
", underlines the Director General of the CMIE, Olivier Van-Hauwaert, who recalls that his occupational physicians are nevertheless familiar with the vaccination against Covid-19 insofar as they have already had to vaccinate the hospital and Ephad staff.
