The expression comes up more and more often in the mouths of those involved in the vaccination against Covid-19 in France, open to all since May 31 and soon to adolescents: "glass ceiling".
"Will there be one in adults?"
Probably yes, but we do not know precisely at what level, ”anticipates Daniel Levy-Bruhl, head of the respiratory infections unit of Public Health France (SPF).
At a certain rate, immunization coverage increases less and less quickly.
The phenomenon, observed in people over 75 years old for several weeks, is now visible in lower age categories.
The number of 50 to 59 year olds receiving a first dose of vaccine each day has halved in two weeks, from over 100,000 to 50,000. 60% of adults in this age group have already received a first injection , but this rate has been climbing less rapidly in recent days.
The change is just as noticeable in the 60-69 age group.
More than 70% of them received a first dose and the rate rose, in one month, from 100,000 to 25,000 daily first injections All ages combined, each day (on average), 350,000 French women and men are are stung for the first time.
80,000 slots available for the next day
It makes sense that the pace will be slower when a majority of the population has already received their first injection.
Foreign countries that left in advance, such as the United States and Israel, are also facing the same problem.
Read also Anti-Covid vaccination: how do foreign countries try to convince the recalcitrant?
Except that vaccine coverage of 60 or 70% may be insufficient to effectively contain a possible new wave of the epidemic.
According to estimates from the Institut Pasteur, 90% of adults, or 60 to 69% of 0-64 year olds and 90% of over 65s, would need to be vaccinated to hope for a quiet fall on the Covid front. -19.
Not sure things will improve in the short term.
The number of appointments for a first injection, taken each day on Doctolib, has been decreasing for several weeks.
It fell from 350,000 to 200,000 in one month even though "80,000 slots are still available every day for the next day", indicates the platform, through which the majority of vaccination appointments pass.
Several centers find themselves with unfilled availability, as was moved Wednesday the boss of the Regional Health Agency of Ile-de-France, Aurélien Rousseau.
It is therefore not only a problem of stock, even if it is necessary to keep a good part of it for the (many) second injections of Pfizer or Moderna.
Small alert and sudden emotion: there are still vaccination slots in many centers.
Now is the time to score the decisive points against the virus.
We have the doses, all adults are eligible and the centers are fully mobilized despite exhaustion!
Let's go !
- Aurélien Rousseau (@aur_rousseau) June 9, 2021
Difficult to interpret, on the spot, this observation.
We think of course of the "antivax", these French women and men who do not wish to be "stung" ... at least for the moment.
In addition, "people are vaccinated less because the health situation has improved and some consider that things are better and that there are no more problems with 5,000 contaminations per day", estimates Patrick Berche, member of the Academy of Medicine.
The institution has also called for making vaccination compulsory for many professionals, judging "very difficult to obtain before the end of the summer a vaccination coverage rate that would ensure sufficient collective immunity to control the epidemic".
"This does not make us enthusiastic, but I think that one day we will go towards compulsory vaccination for all, especially in the event of the 4th wave in the fall," indicates Patrick Berche.
Towards compulsory vaccination?
At this point, the government refuses such an end. But “at some point, if science tells us '
we have to reach 80-90% of the population to have [collective] immunity, we have a problem in the country because we are more able to convince
', we can -to be wondering [to make vaccination compulsory] ”, warned Emmanuel Macron during a trip to the Lot, Thursday, May 27. In the short term, Health Insurance is strengthening operations to “reach out” to the unvaccinated, in particular the elderly.
All is not completely dark, however. Polls show that the desire to be vaccinated has increased significantly since January, among young and old alike. And the pace of first-time injections continues to accelerate in those under 40, as the summer holidays approach. "In the age groups below 50, the demand is there", rejoices Daniel Levy-Bruhl.