The rush for the crenellations was expected: it is confirmed day by day.
While contaminations are increasing in France, with the approach of Christmas, many French people are looking to get an appointment to receive their booster dose.
As of November 30, nearly 8.2 million people had received their additional injection, a number that is increasing sharply every day: a record of 556,000 booster injections was recorded on December 2, according to the authorities.
Read alsoCovid-19: the effectiveness of the booster dose is confirmed in French hospitals
Several million people are therefore waiting to receive their booster dose, especially before the end of the year holidays.
Finding a niche is not always easy: here are a few tips to help you.
Try at your neighborhood pharmacy
This is the first option: for several months now, city medicine has actively participated in the vaccination campaign against Covid-19.
Present on reservation platforms, pharmacies can also keep aside the doses they offer their customers, as we have seen in Paris.
It is therefore quite possible to ask your pharmacist if there are any doses left to administer, and to try your luck.
Some professionals can also set up a waiting list and contact the interested parties in the event of an appointment being canceled, for example.
A method which, although not infallible, remains easy to try.
Use "Quickly my dose!"
Spontaneously, many Internet users go to Doctolib to find a vaccination appointment.
But this is to forget that other platforms, sometimes less in demand, also offer niches.
Developed by Guillaume Rozier, already behind a myriad of tools such as CovidTracker and VaccinTracker, “Quickly my dose!”
offers vaccination appointments, in a geolocated manner, by combining those of several websites, such as Keldoc, Doctolib, Maiia, MaPharma or Valwin.
A wider choice, therefore, which makes it easier to find niches.
Favor Moderna for adults over 30
The recall campaign is based on two similar vaccines, and using the same technology. But the first - that of Pfizer - is much better known by the French: it must be said that more than 40.8 million of them received a first dose with this vaccine, against only 5.7 million with that of Moderna. As a result, the Pfizer vaccine is often spontaneously preferred for booster shots, to the detriment of its counterpart.
However, the two vaccines complement each other perfectly, as Professor Alain Fischer, president of the Vaccine Strategy Orientation Council, recalled during a press briefing on Friday.
Reserved for people over 30, "
Moderna is slightly superior to Pfizer in terms of efficiency,
" he said.
"
The success of the recall campaign can only be achieved if we mobilize Pfizer and Moderna,
" insisted the Ministry of Health.
[...] Currently, the question is not whether we will have such and such a vaccine, it is rather to have a booster
”.
To read also Stéphane Bancel: "In 12 to 18 months, Moderna will have the scale of a Roche or Novartis"
Moderna's stocks for booster injections are currently less used and larger than those of Pfizer: favoring a recall by the first can therefore be a good strategy. At least that is what the Ministry of Health pleads: “
we will not be able to fight the battle without using Moderna. These are two perfectly effective messenger RNA vaccines [...] that we use whenever possible. The message is clear: to succeed in massively vaccinating all our eligible fellow citizens, we need both weapons
", Pfizer like Moderna".
This vaccine will also be preferred in vaccination centers in the future, because it comes in vials of twenty doses, as a reminder, easier to dispose of in these places than in doctors' offices or pharmacies.
The centers will therefore receive "
significant supplies of Moderna
": favoring this vaccine in research may therefore be an option, provided they are over 30 years old.
It should be remembered that it is quite possible to have completed your vaccination schedule with Pfizer and to receive a Moderna booster, and vice versa.
Watch every day on the platforms
Remember, if some may be discouraged when their search for an appointment is unsuccessful, "
between 400,000 and 800,000 slots
" are open daily, said the Ministry of Health, confirming a statement by Olivier Véran.
There remain, to date, 2.5 million appointments available by the end of January, and new ones appear regularly.
Watching often, or even several times a day, on platforms is therefore a good option.
“
The system is dynamic, with many appointments opening every day,
” we said.
Use the skip-the-line number reserved for certain special cases
In the face of the rush, people who are older or less comfortable with the internet can find themselves overwhelmed.
The Ministry of Health has therefore set up a skip-the-line number, active from today, dedicated to people over 65 as well as to people who have received a single injection of Janssen.
Concretely, vaccination centers must reserve 5% of their slots for the fast-track number: interested persons must therefore call 0 800 730 956 to be guided by "
agents trained in making appointments online
".
Only agents can have access to the slots set aside by the centers, and can thus easily find a slot for priority individuals.
Please note: this number should only be used by and for these target populations.