Sometimes you just have to cross the street to find a vaccine.
In any case, this is what happened to Amélie, Saturday April 3.
At around 6 p.m., the 54-year-old Parisian was returning from an afternoon picnic in the Bois de Vincennes.
With a friend, they are pedaling in the streets of the XXth arrondissement to return home, when a man appears and bars their way in the middle of the road.
"He waved his hands, calling out to us:
" Please, please, come and get vaccinated, "
says this administrative and financial manager, still amused by this incredible episode.
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Installed in the gymnasium next door, the officials of the vaccination center are distraught, because it is the first time that they have doses left on their arms before closing, with no one to inject them.
However, they have additional lists of eligible people, supposed to come urgently if a niche becomes available.
But this Easter weekend, their phone rang too many times.
"I shed a tear the moment I was stung"
For their part, the two comrades do not need to be asked.
Especially Amélie, who was eagerly awaiting the vaccination, and had already given her name in two pharmacies to be called just in case, but "without any illusions".
“I was ready to wait my turn, before this nice coincidence.
The staff at the center looked so invested, they were disappointed that they couldn't inject these doses of Pfizer, and very happy when we agreed to be vaccinated, ”explains the 50-year-old.
Amélie describes “a happy shared moment”.
“We thanked them, they thanked us,” she laughs.
Or when the relief of finally being protected from the virus meets the satisfaction of having helped not lose a dose.
A strong emotion that Marie also felt when she received her injection saved from the trash.
“I shed a tear the moment I was stung,” she says.
"I said to myself that
There you are, you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
"It was through a doctor friend who happened to meet at the supermarket that this 52-year-old Parisian executive invited herself to the vaccination campaign ahead of time.
"Come quickly, we have a vaccine for you!"
"
“For two weeks, I had heard about people who had received doses that would have gone to the trash if they had not come forward.
So I told him that I was up for it if he was looking for volunteers, insisting on the fact that I did not want to take the place of anyone, ”says Marie, who has no co-morbidity criteria.
And besides, she is not supposed to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine, which the High Authority of Health (HAS) recommends only for people over 55 years old.
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But after a "discussion of confidence" with her doctor friend, she persists in volunteering and the practitioner agrees to deviate very slightly from the official recommendations.
Two days later, he called her to come and get an end of the vial injected.
And as another dose remains on the table, Marie immediately telephones a friend in the neighborhood.
"I said to him,
'Are you at home?
So come quickly, you can be vaccinated!
»
» Their second injection is scheduled for the end of May.
Disclaimers for AstraZeneca
In fact, in most cases, it is mainly general practitioners who seek their patients, as was the case for Claire and Benoît, 50 and 48 years old, without comorbidity.
“It was during a very ordinary consultation with our attending physician, a few weeks ago, that the secretary asked me if we were up for it,” says Claire.
She explained to me that she spent her time making and redoing lists of volunteers, because many patients withdrew and refused to be bitten with the AstraZeneca.
"
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At first a little reluctant, the couple finally let themselves be convinced.
“There was no question for us to take the place of a priority person, assures the teacher.
But our doctor had only received one vial, compared to three last week, and even with so little, he was still forced to call ineligible candidates to complete the ten doses included in the vial and not not throw it away.
"
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Objective: rescue of summer vacations
Sending even a drop to the scrap is a strange paradox as candidates try to find a niche by all means.
Julien, a 39-year-old graphic designer, has been scrambling for ten days.
Among his goals: to save his summer vacation abroad.
“We would like to go to Andalusia, he anticipates.
My days are set in July, so I did the math, if it takes two injections, you really shouldn't hang around!
"
So, Saturday April 3, with his companion, they stepped in front of the vaccination center near their home, in Maisons-Alfort (Val-de-Marne), at closing time, in search of 'a dose that would not have found a taker. Wasted effort. "But we were given flyers with a number to call to get on a list of volunteers," adds Julien, who joined in the wake, like more than half a million French, on Covidliste, the platform which geolocates and lists volunteers. At the same time, the couple tried pharmacies, again without success. But the arrival of the Janssen vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, within two to three weeks, may reshuffle the cards, they hope. Otherwise, they will have to wait to become eligible, that is to say not before mid-June.
