With tears in her eyes, her voice trembling, a woman screams in front of the vaccination center.
"I'm fed up, I took my day on purpose!"
I've been trying to reach you for twenty times, I'm entitled to my vaccine!
Around her, about fifty inhabitants of the popular district of Bacalan came this Wednesday afternoon for their injection of Pfizer and are patient, very annoyed, in front of the staff, helpless and dismayed.
Big discomfort and chaos in front of the doors of the ephemeral vaccination center, open for three weeks in the north of Bordeaux (Gironde).
And for good reason.
The Gironde Regional Health Agency (ARS) announced Monday that the 8,000 inhabitants of Bacalan, regardless of their age, could be vaccinated without an appointment as soon as the site opens.
Change of program Tuesday afternoon.
Only 70 doses were ready the next day, corresponding exactly… to the number of people who had made an appointment on Doctolib or by contacting the telephone platform set up the same morning, at 8 am, by the city services.
"There was a movement of panic"
“The line was undoubtedly quickly saturated. Six operators answer it, however…! The service will quickly be strengthened! “Tries to temper Philippe Latrille, the director of prevention in Bordeaux. A few minutes earlier, the mayor (EELV) Pierre Hurmic had toured the site in front of the cameras of journalists, praising "the great responsiveness of everyone (Editor's note: town hall and ARS)", assuring the microphone: "We will succeed to vaccinate the whole neighborhood and even beyond. " The ace.
The communication operation of the town hall, as well as the success of the opening of this emergency center, announced in the middle of the Pentecost weekend, fizzled out. The discovery of a cluster in Bordeaux affecting young people in particular and caused by a mutation of the English virus has caused great concern in this working-class district. "There was a movement of panic, an unexpected turnaround in people's behavior," reports Virginie Amestoy, the manager of the mutualist pharmacy, located in the heart of the district.
“In recent weeks, many residents did not want to be vaccinated, they waited, wary of the side effects of AstraZeneca.
Overnight, for five days, they flock to the pharmacy to make an appointment.
They are ready to accept anything, Astra, Moderna, Pfizer… ”, testifies the pharmacist.
"I even change neighborhood to do my shopping"
Crossed this Wednesday in front of the center, many inhabitants, aged 30 to 60 years, in fact claim to want to be vaccinated as soon as possible. “I was reluctant towards the vaccine, I even refused AstraZeneca, I told myself that we did not have enough perspective on the side effects. But there, I tell myself that it is the moment. In recent days, I've even moved to another neighborhood to do my shopping, I'm very careful, ”says Martine, a 56-year-old nurse.
Friday, the ARS of Gironde had indicated that a new outbreak had formed in Bacalan, caused by a variant "already known but very rare so far" linked to two chains of transmission. This “Bordeaux variant” has already been identified in other regions, including Île-de-France and Grand-Est, but this is the first time that it is at the origin of an outbreak of this disease. importance in France. More than 900 PCR tests and 65 saliva tests were carried out on May 25 in the neighborhood and this Wednesday, 70 cases were found positive for the variant called VOC 484K.
The ARS has highlighted the need to create a "buffer zone" and to avoid any spread, hence its decision to anticipate the vaccination of people over 18, without any stipulated conditions, next Monday.
"This variant is potentially more contaminating but no person tested positive for Bacalan has developed a serious form", we also reassure the ARS.
“When we say that we are from Bacalan, we are not well received!
"
Tonio, who has lived in this popular district north of Bordeaux for years, spent his weekend locked up at home.
LP / Patrick Bernard
“When you live in Bacalan, you don't usually tell it to yourself.
But in recent days, it is better not even to talk about it at all!
», Quipped Tonio.
The chef, who has lived for years in this popular district north of Bordeaux, known for its industrial warehouses and its submarine base, spent his Pentecost weekend in isolation in his apartment.
"I suggested to a friend from Talence
(Editor's note: west of the city)
to come to my place, he refused to come here and when I go to the city center, I try to show myself rather discreet.
At the baker's, when we say that we are from Bacalan, we are not well received!
»Confides, smirking, the fifty-something who has been trying since the appearance of the" Bordeaux variant "in the neighborhood to be vaccinated, in vain.
“I did a PCR test which is negative, so I can be vaccinated, in theory, but the laboratory has not yet sent me the result, there was a bug. Here, it's urgent, everyone was taken aback, ”says the chef, who organizes cooking competitions for teenagers at private homes. “I feel a certain responsibility towards them. It is really time for me to protect myself, ”he believes, a little annoyed by the incivilities he is observing these days in his neighborhood. “In the evening, there are crowds, people walking around without masks after curfew time. If this continues, there will be a backlash, ”he worries.
