This Friday, January 22, at the headquarters of our newspaper, the Minister of Health is a few minutes late.
It is difficult to cut short a one-on-one with the President of the Republic, especially when it comes to the evolution of the epidemic.
And that it is worrying.
Olivier Véran will tell the six readers of the Parisien - Today-in-France that he has in front of him.
A retiree, a restaurateur, a nursery director, a doctor, a mother of three children and a student.
For an hour and fifteen, they questioned, titillated, sometimes pushed the minister to his limits, on vaccination, masks, closed shops ... And also expressed their concern about the future.
One thing is certain, the other great evil of the epidemic is psychological.
Among other things, Olivier Véran is also announcing that he is working on first aid training in mental health.
VACCINATION.
"We will not be able to deprive the French of a debate" on the vaccine passport
Alain Fudal.
I'm 74 and a half years old, with diabetes and high blood pressure.
I have an appointment to be vaccinated on February 3, but I am no longer a priority.
Will I still be able to receive my dose?
OLIVIER VÉRAN.
February 3, no.
You will be able to do so from March.
I understand your impatience.
But we are vaccinating people on a priority basis, at the rate at which vaccines are arriving, which is two million today.
The high priority public remains the over 75s.
Then, your two comorbidities are not part of the first list of 800,000 French people established by scientists.
As soon as there is a threshold, there is injustice.
Of course, you justify the vaccination, and you will get it.
It takes a little bit of patience.
Delphine Secret-Pouliquen.
We, doctors, have been asked to open vaccination centers.
In mine, we were told that we would have 200 doses a day, then 110, then 90. It's unmanageable.
When is a long-term schedule?
You will not relive this bad experience.
The strong enthusiasm of all led to the opening of more centers than initially planned, resulting in a new distribution of doses.
But I can assure you that the 100 hospitals (one per department) which distribute the doses, now know their precise number for the next four weeks.
Better, from this beginning of the week, the French will know via the Data.gouv.fr site, how many vaccines have each center and the number of appointments already made.
This will make things much easier.
READ ALSO>
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Marie-Camille Rivière.
Why not first vaccinate the young people, who suffer the most from the situation?
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Because the vaccine is effective in limiting severe forms of the disease.
It is not yet known whether it protects against contagiousness and therefore against benign infections.
From there, the strategy is clear: first to give the treatment to the people for which it will be effective and thus save lives.
The residents of nursing homes are 1% of the population, 33% of Covid deaths.
Raja Yagoubi.
If we create a vaccination passport, won't that in fact make compulsory vaccination which is not supposed to be?
The vaccination passport consists of saying: "you are nice, but I have had my two doses, I would like to go to a restaurant, take the bus without a mask ..." Today, the question does not arise because everyone The world does not yet have access to the vaccine and it is not known whether it prevents transmission.
In a few months, when things have changed, we will not be able to deprive the French of this debate.
From the start, I trusted them, and I'm right.
An example: we were hoping for 70% membership in nursing homes, we are above.
Ditto for caregivers where we bet on 50%.
In our country, the vaccination coverage rate will be very high.
I never doubted it.
Josselin Lucke.
Never ?
The French are like Saint-Thomas, they like to see before believing.
A nursing home resident explained to me why she waited before getting vaccinated: “I want to know how young people react!
It is nothing to be ashamed of for people to ask.
Doubt is different from refuting.
There are people we will not convince.
But we will not paralyze the country because 10% of the population considers that there is a global conspiracy to poison or control them.
Raja Yagoubi.
In the country of Pasteur, how do you explain the delay in French vaccines?
I imagine you are referring to Sanofi.
You know, there is always an element of risk in a scientific adventure.
I will never point the finger at a company that does research, tries to find something out, because it did not succeed at the same time as the others.
The future will tell us if this laboratory is capable of developing a vaccine, if it is effective and still useful when it is ready.
Today, in France, we have three industries that manufacture vaccines for Pfizer, Moderna and CureVac.
And that's what matters.
SCHOOLS.
Soon tests to spare the nostrils
Olivier Véran: “The vaccine can get us out of this mess […].
But I remain very careful in case an evil variant does appear.
»/ LP / Olivier Corsan
Josselin Lucke.
I haven't attended a college lecture since October 30th.
If collective immunity is not reached in September, will distance learning courses continue?
The President of the Republic announced soon the return of the students once a week to the university.
It is a very good thing…
… If this feedback only concerns the tutorials, I am not in favor of it.
What we hope is to return to real amphitheatres!
We kept our universities open as long as we could.
And when we took the serious decision to close them, it was because there was no longer any alternative to fight against the spread of the virus.
However, I strongly believe that the vaccine can get us out of this mess.
There is therefore no a priori reason that universities cannot reopen as soon as possible.
But I remain extremely careful in case an evil variant does appear.
There is a margin of uncertainty.
This virus has confused the waters several times since it appeared.
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When will the saliva tests be done?
For the so-called rapid saliva tests, their performance remains too low.
They have a sensitivity of 50% ... you might as well throw a coin in the air.
For PCR saliva tests, the results are more promising and we should be able to move soon, in particular to spare the nostrils of our children.
Alain Fudal.
We fear a strong resumption of the epidemic in March.
Will this lead you to modify the February school holidays in order to limit the spread?
I don't know who is announcing a big epidemic in March!
No decision was endorsed to arrange the vacation.
Today, our country is experiencing strong epidemic tension with more hospital admissions than discharges.
Unfortunately, it has an air of déjà vu.
We need the curfew to work, we need to manage to cope with the variant and save time.
In the best case scenario, we will be able to reduce the epidemic pressure.
If this is not the case, we will not wait until March to act.
We are monitoring the evolution of the effects of the curfew on a daily basis.
We will not wait for a new wave to arrive to take the right measures.
Marie-Camille Rivière.
In nursery, we are all masked.
What about babies born during confinement who only know masked people, except their parents.
Will there not be language disorders and how to learn emotion by seeing only the eyes?
That's a very good question.
I cannot deny that there will be a psychological impact on this generation and all the others.
No one will come out of such a pandemic unscathed.
The day we take off our masks, I suggest we make it a national holiday
(he laughs).
That we get back to our previous life as quickly as possible, that we sweep away all that, we will obviously learn lessons in terms of public policy and living together.
ECONOMIC LIFE.
Towards a reinforced protocol in restaurants
"We are returning 45 million free masks this week to the seven million most vulnerable French people," assures the Minister of Health. / LP / Olivier Corsan
Raja Yagoubi.
Cloth masks are no longer recommended.
Tomorrow, who says surgeons will resist variants?
These are not all fabric masks, the vast majority are still recommended!
For surgeons, health authorities say the risk is almost zero.
In a surgical mask, you have a very strong filtration power, above 95%.
For the FFP2, it is still a little more filtering!
If we throw away our homemade products, will there be financial support from the state to buy the vouchers?
We distribute tens of millions of masks.
People with chronic illnesses - diabetes, high blood pressure - can be prescribed and reimbursed for surgical masks at pharmacies.
Not many people know, we may not have said it enough.
In addition, this week we are returning 45 million free masks, directly to their homes, to the seven million most vulnerable French people.
Alain Fudal.
The 6 p.m. curfew causes tension in transport.
Isn't that a problem?
People are adjusting and we are regulating public transport so that we can meet demand and avoid crowded trains.
But without public transport, you no longer have a life in the country.
The country stops.
What is vital for our collective functioning?
We considered that public transport was part of it, like school.
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Alain Fontaine.
Everyone is waiting for the bars and restaurants to reopen, but don't the 2m of social distancing sign our death warrant?
We do and will do everything to ensure that no one loses their business, their business or their restaurant.
I sympathize with you and your profession.
You have nothing to do with it, it is so.
But we are now in a very favorable season for the spread of the virus.
We will open as soon as possible, of course.
And it will be all the more possible to open as we have a reinforced health protocol.
Are we sure that the delivery platforms are not contributing to the spread of the disease?
Home deliveries are useful and we maintain them, with protocols.
I notice it when I have it delivered: the bag is placed in front of my door and it is I who collects it.
In addition, I am also Minister of Solidarity and I think it would be good to take an interest in the way in which we treat the people who bring us food.
There are a lot of things to change.
I made a maraud in Paris with the Restos du Cœur, and I was marked by seeing a certain number of delivery people stop there.
We cannot leave things as they are.
DISTRESS OF STUDENTS.
"Develop first aid in mental health"
"The indicators show a deterioration in the morale of the French," admits Olivier Véran, who wants to believe "in our capacity for resilience because we are very strong.
»/ LP / Olivier Corsan
Josselin Lucke.
The 2.5 million students can't take it anymore.
What do you plan to do for them: the psychiatric checks announced by the president to consult a psychologist will not be enough ...
No, but they will be very useful.
We have also set up online services that make it possible to put words on distress and, if necessary, set up medical support.
But we must go further.
Moreover, I have an idea on which I want to move forward in the coming weeks: to develop first aid in mental health.
Eight faculties offer it today, I want to generalize it, including in the business world.
READ ALSO>
Covid-19: a "psychological support check" to deal with student discomfort
What would that look like?
We know how to save lives thanks to the first aid training offered in companies, so why not do it also in the psychological field?
For example, when you start to lose sleep, have dark thoughts, to devalue yourself with suicidal thoughts… We must provide the tools to citizens so that they can detect them in their entourage.
Marie-Camille Rivière.
Are you not afraid of a huge national depression?
The indicators show a deterioration in the morale of the French.
But I believe in our capacity for collective resilience because we are very strong.
Much more than imagined.
We are solid, we are united, and we will get by.
CONFINEMENT.
"If the virus starts to grow strongly, we close"
“I am scared of populism, says Olivier Véran to our readers, and the action that I am leading, that we are leading, aims to restore confidence.
»/ LP / Olivier Corsan
Delphine Secret-Pouliquen.
We hear about a new confinement.
When?
What will it look like?
First I am waiting to be determined on the effects of the curfew.
We will be next week.
If it doesn't go down, if the variants start to spread everywhere, then we will take additional measures, of course.
And it's called containment.
If we see that the virus starts to progress strongly, we close.
We will do it if we have no choice.
The one we put in place in October has been effective.
But I can tell you that there is no hidden plan, nor a pre-written scenario.
The Parisian.
Boris Johnson claims the English variant is more deadly.
What consequences will you draw from it?
Without waiting, we have put a lot of resources in place to track down the variant.
Closure of borders, PCR tests before departure, reinforced isolation measures, visit to a nurse's home to check that everything is going well, mobilization of all our scientific platforms.
Alain Fontaine.
But give us a message of hope!
In the past, we have already managed to overcome a wave of epidemics.
It was in May.
We have already knocked out the virus in our country.
So we know how to do it.
And then, now, we have a second weapon, the vaccine.
So we'll get there.
You ask me when?
As soon as possible !
POLITICS.
"When the epidemic is over, I would surely still have to answer"
Josselin Lucke.
Speaking of the French, Emmanuel Macron denounced this Thursday the “66 million prosecutors”.
We no longer have the right to criticize in France?
Of course we have the right to criticize, he did not say the opposite!
But let's not have a cat's memory: a lot of things are working in our country.
Unlimited free tests, free treatments, hospitals that have held, schools open… who is talking about it?
Above all, the president praised the daring, the spirit of initiative, which should not be slowed down for fear of making a mistake.
Well for me, it's the same: I need your ideas, your optimism, your productive critical spirit, the one that makes progress!
What do you think of the current political climate?
What does this bode for the next presidential election?
Unfortunately, the vaccine against populism was not invented.
And this virus, it circulates quickly… There are countries which changed overnight.
Some have made it, like the United States.
Others do not, like Brazil.
I am scared of populism, and the action that I am leading, that we are leading, aims to restore confidence.
Too many people say they are ready to fall into something totalitarian because they no longer feel happy in the society in which they live.
Let us open their eyes to what is happening elsewhere.
On what is going well and better here.
And let's continue to develop social progress.
Alain Fontaine.
This crisis will go down in history.
What trace do you think you will leave personally?
Ooh there!
Sometimes I have trouble knowing what day of the week it is.
Everything is linked very quickly.
The little time I have left is to think about my two children.
I think I am the one who will come out of this crisis the latest.
Some have appealed to the Court of Justice of the Republic to lodge a complaint about the management of the epidemic.
So when it is over, I will surely still have to answer for it.
When we cherish democracy as I do, we accept its rules, even if they seem unfair.
Being Minister of Solidarity and Health is an honor and an incredible experience.
It taints the leather.
And after ?
I want the president to be re-elected and I will do everything to get it.
My future will be in Health, other government functions, or elsewhere.
I do not think about it.
We'll see…
Olivier Véran and the readers of our newspaper
/ LP / Olivier Corsan
Behind Olivier Véran, from top to bottom and from left to right: Josselin Lucke, 21, political science student, Le Bourget (Seine-Saint-Denis);
Alain Fontaine, 63, restaurateur, president of the Association of Master Restorers, Paris (IIe);
Alain Fudal, 74, retired, Chelles (Seine-et-Marne);
Raja Yagoubi, 42, administrative assistant, three children, Drancy (Seine-Saint-Denis);
Dr Delphine Secret-Pouliquen, 44, general practitioner, Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray (Seine-Maritime);
Marie-Camille Rivière 28 years old, nurse and director of a crèche, Paris (18th century).
