A week after the launch of the vaccine campaign in Europe, the question is on everyone's lips: after the masks and the tests, will vaccines be the next fiasco of the French government in the face of Covid?
As of January 3, according to data collected by the Our World in data site, 12.29 million doses of vaccines had been administered worldwide.
With, largely in the lead, China (4.5 million as of December 31), the United States (4.23 million on January 2), Israel (1.09 million, or nearly 13% of its population), the United Kingdom (944,539 doses as of December 27) and Russia (800,000).
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Vaccination failures: the executive under pressure
Countries which, of course, started their campaign earlier than France.
But while Germany, which it began at the same time, had nearly 238,809 doses delivered, France continued to go its senator's train with… 352 doses.
However, it is difficult to have very exact figures: the Vaccine Covid vaccination monitoring database, authorized by a decree published on December 26, will not be operational until January 4, indicates the guide sent to establishments welcoming the elderly.
Until then, it is up to each of them to
“store this information under organizational and technical conditions that guarantee an appropriate level of security”
.
Criticized from all sides, this slowness in the vaccination of the French was initially a completely accepted policy.
"I do not confuse speed and haste, we take the time to educate and explain"
, repeated the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, in front of the cameras of France 2 last Tuesday while Professor Alain Fischer, in charge of set the French vaccine campaign to music, said Wednesday to AFP that the controversy was
"a little derisive"
and was a
"false quarrel"
.
"It's good not to go too fast
, he explained on December 29 to
Le Figaro.
.
This makes it possible to ensure that the campaign takes place in the best conditions of safety and ethics. ”
It was without counting on Emmanuel Macron and his outburst of anger orchestrated in the
Sunday Journal.
Parliamentarians who follow me, please help protect our country.
The vaccination strategy MUST be adapted to the urgency of the situation
Axel Kahn, President of the National League Against Cancer
The government has already, without really saying it, moved away from the recommendations of the High Authority for Health (HAS) that it had yet promised to follow.
In its opinion of November 30, the HAS recommended to vaccinate first the elderly in an establishment, then the personnel at risk working there (over 65 years or with comorbidity).
Criticized from all sides for not rapidly vaccinating healthcare workers exposed to the virus, the government first announced that those over 50 could be vaccinated from mid-January, then from the 4th. But here too , the organization lacks clarity: while the AP-HP organized this weekend in emergency and with a lot of communication the vaccination of its staff, the president of the Council of the Order of Physicians, Dr Patrick Bouet, proudly announced that he had been vaccinated at the Hôtel-Dieu ... while other liberals were told that it was for the moment an operation reserved for the personnel of the AP-HP.
As for knowing where the population will be vaccinated, this is also the big vagueness ... The government wanted at all costs to avoid the fiasco of the H1N1 influenza vaccinodromes;
Did the special storage conditions for the only vaccine available make him change his mind?
A note from the Directorate General of Health sent Thursday to professionals in any case evoked
"the establishment of vaccination centers"
under
"each territory, pivotal establishments (...) but also local unions of liberal health professionals (...) under the aegis of regional health agencies ”
.
"Consultations will be initiated"
, specified the letter ... Without it being understood why they were not already.
During this time, many political and medical personalities did not stop calling for accelerating the pace.
“Parliamentarians who follow me, please help protect our country.
The vaccine strategy MUST be adapted to the urgency of the situation ”
, pleaded on Twitter Professor Axel Kahn, president of the National League against cancer.
“We should go quickly, quickly, quickly (…).
It's a real speed race (...) if we want to quickly make the first benefits in terms of hospitalizations avoided ”
, for his part launched Professor Antoine Flahault, going so far as to call for making vaccination compulsory in Ehpad where it does not excite all the residents:
"Young people, restaurant owners, all those who today suffer from the consequences of the health crisis will not be able to accept that the elderly do not get vaccinated."
In a press release, the Academy of Medicine said Thursday that
"there is no longer time to wait"
:
"The first assessment (...) is difficult to defend (...).
Adopted to reassure a public opinion won by hesitation, these excessive precautions risk, on the contrary, giving rise to growing incomprehension vis-à-vis a campaign whose kick-off seems to lack determination. "
Among the very criticized slowing factors, the pre-vaccination consultation set up which should make it possible to search for possible contraindications to the vaccine
Among the very criticized slowing down factors, the pre-vaccination consultation put in place which should make it possible to search for possible contraindications to the vaccine and to obtain patient consent.
This is one of many overburdened government trials, justified or not.
Thus the recommended period of five days between the pre-vaccination consultation and the vaccination, mentioned by the guide distributed to nursing homes.
Some saw it as an
irreducible
“withdrawal period”
.
This is in fact only a logistical recommendation to give establishments the time to count precisely upstream the number of people to be vaccinated, to order only the number of doses necessary and not to waste a product for the duration of the vaccine. short shelf life once thawed.
“In fact, we know that 24 hours are enough to obtain the doses,”
says Yann Reboulleau, leader of the group of nursing homes and residences for the elderly Philogéris.
In Sartrouville, one of the twenty-two establishments in its group vaccinated fourteen of its residents on Thursday
(see page 3)
.
“On Wednesday evening, we placed our order via the pharmacy dispensary which acts as the intermediary between the central pharmacy of the AP-HP and the establishment.
And on Thursday morning the pharmacist went to get our doses and delivered them to us. ”
When the vaccination is done in town, the injection can be done immediately after the pre-vaccination consultation.
As for the collection of consent, many saw it as an inordinate requirement for a product with a Marketing Authorization (MA), and which should therefore be treated like any other vaccine.
Others point out, however, that the MA obtained is said to be “conditional”, because it was granted in a hurry and when the clinical trials have not been completed.
The National Consultative Ethics Committee, for its part, considered, in an opinion delivered on December 18, that
“specific consent was required for the first phase of vaccination, compared to a conventional vaccination (for example against influenza) where there is a form of consent by default, without checking that the information has been received and understood by the person (…), because (…) uncertainties remain, and the person must be aware of this. ”
In fact, and even if some establishments may have been overzealous, the collection of consent
"is carried out within the framework of the law and the usual rules"
, specifies the guide provided to nursing homes, and there is no written consent is not required.
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In a Parisian nursing home, consent at the heart of the first vaccinations
According to the authorities, the campaign will quickly reach its cruising speed and the protection of the French will ultimately be equivalent to that of their neighbors.
But with over 2,000 deaths per week, every day counts.
And these communication failures risk weakening trust.
Thus the curious declarations of Alain Fischer (for example, on the fact that the available data do not yet allow us to affirm that vaccines prevent contagiousness): they are, of course, imprinted with scientific reason, but they do not pass well with the public. General public.
It remains to be hoped that all this will not lead the French to believe that vaccination is a somewhat extraordinary medical act, with uncertain benefits and proven risks, because this is not the case, far from it.