More than eight months after having wiped the plasters of vaccination, the establishments for dependent elderly people (Ehpad) brought out the syringes.
The government officially launched on Monday the campaign to inject a third dose of anti-Covid vaccine into retirement homes, in order to maintain a high level of protection for residents, in accordance with the recommendations of the High Authority for Health.
Around 600,000 seniors are affected.
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"For the most vulnerable people, over time, the effectiveness of (the) vaccination decreases," said Prime Minister Jean Castex, who himself came to attend injections in a nursing home in Clamart (Hauts-de- Seine).
This recall campaign is all the more important as the residents of retirement homes "paid a very heavy price" at the start of the epidemic, "before the vaccination arrived".
" Give the example "
According to official figures, the virus has killed more than 26,700 in retirement homes, nearly a quarter of the total number of deaths in France.
But 90% of residents have now received two doses of vaccine and since then, their "death rate, and even disease, has dropped considerably," said the head of government.
In her Ehpad in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, the ACPPA Péan, Madeleine Levieil, 98 years old, gave herself with good grace to her third injection.
Not necessarily to feel better protected but “to set an example”.
“I do it because I am a reasonable person”, smiles the resident, who “finds all these parades against vaccination ridiculous”.
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"This additional protection is welcome, to boost the immune system of residents and protect them before winter," said Dr Jean-Marie Nguyen Quang, coordinating doctor of this 94-place establishment, which lost nine residents during the first wave, in spring 2020.
"Vaccination has changed everything"
"Vaccination changed everything: residents were able to go out again, go to restaurants with their families, rediscover the joie de vivre that had been so lacking, everything that makes life worth living", summarizes the doctor.
In addition, "we are fortunate not to have any vaccine resistant," underlines the director, Romy Lasserre.
“At the beginning, we had to communicate a lot because it was the unknown, but today we no longer need to convince.
Everyone welcomes this third dose as a relief ”.
If some establishments were able to carry out first injections at the end of last week, most of this recall campaign started on Monday.
Each facility can order 10 vials per week, or 70 doses, and will have to organize themselves to spread the injections over three to five weeks, depending on the date of the first injections.
Beyond nursing homes, the third dose is also recommended for the "5 million over 65 who had their second dose 6 months ago" - or their first, if they had the Covid -, recalled the Prime Minister.
Among them, about 600,000 have already made an appointment to obtain this recall according to him.
The attention of the public authorities is also focused on the 8 million French people who have not yet received their first dose, "in particular the most vulnerable among them", underlined Jean Castex.
They "are not necessarily doctrinaire opponents of vaccination" but "we must go and find them where they are", including in isolated territories.
For Pascal Champvert, from the AD-PA association, which brings together directors of nursing homes and home services, efforts must particularly focus on seniors with loss of autonomy who live at home: “They were unable to benefit logistics set up in retirement homes, he believes.
As usual, the home sector has been somewhat forgotten in this crisis ”.
