Was it a dress rehearsal or a publicity stunt intended to calm the critics on the slowness of the French vaccine policy?
Probably a bit of both.
The results, in any case, are positive.
After breaking a record on Friday (nearly 240,000 injections, + 37% compared to the previous Friday), more than 200,000 vaccines were administered on Saturday, the second most prolific day since the start of vaccination and, above all, nearly three times more than the previous Saturday (just over 70,000 injections).
And while we painfully passed ten thousand doses during the traditional Sunday rest day, Olivier Véran hoped Sunday to pass
"at least 100,000"
.
Proof is made if it was necessary that France also knows how to vaccinate on weekends as long as it gives itself the means.
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By the admission of the Ministry of Health, however, we should not expect such operations to be set up every weekend.
A large part of the ephemeral centers set up in emergency in 23 departments are not intended to be perpetuated for the moment.
The objective was first to sell stocks of AstraZeneca shunned by caregivers.
Some 200,000 doses (out of the 600,000 that were reserved for them) were thus reintroduced into the general public circuit.
There is also a million left to inject.
The authorities hope that they will be quickly used by general practitioners.
While they were only 19,000 the first week to order at least one vial, they were 38,000 last week (they will receive their doses on Wednesday).
“Doctors are mobilized, we saw it this weekend
, estimates Dr. Michaël Rochoy who responded on short notice to the call from the authorities to participate in the center set up urgently in Boulogne-sur-Mer.
If these doses had been given to general practitioners or pharmacists three weeks ago, there would have been no need for such a catch-up campaign. "
In any case, the logistics will have to become more fluid.
This week, more than 800,000 doses of AstraZeneca will be delivered.
There should be a million a week thereafter until the end of the month.
This actually only represents two vials per GP on average, so there is nothing insurmountable in principle.
Especially since pharmacists will join in the dance on March 15.
A reinforcement that is not anecdotal since, for example, they have passed nearly a third of the flu vaccines this year.
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As for RNA vaccines, between 750,000 and 800,000 doses of Pfizer are expected each week in March, and 930,000 doses of Moderna divided into two deliveries over the month.
A flow that the vaccination centers already open, and some of which sometimes operate slowly for lack of doses, must in principle be able to absorb without problem.
It is in April that things could start to get trickier: 7.7 million doses of Pfizer, 1.7 million of Moderna, 3.1 million AstraZeneca and 2.7 million Janssen are expected (ongoing authorization).
It will then be necessary to pass 500,000 doses per day on average to inject everything in just-in-time flow.
A challenge that the government has no right to miss.
Caregivers urged to get vaccinated
To date, less than a third of healthcare professionals have been vaccinated against Covid.
In a common forum published on Sunday in the Journal du Dimanche, the seven orders of health professionals (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, midwives, etc.) call
"with one voice all caregivers to be vaccinated ".
Above all, because
"it is their ethical duty to protect their patients in all circumstances".
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Covid-19: “the enthusiasm” of caregivers for vaccination is increasing, estimates Olivier Véran
The AstraZeneca vaccine
"is safe and its efficacy has been amply demonstrated by studies carried out in Great Britain and Israel, where it has been widely administered,"
they recall.
Visiting Sunday in Boulogne-sur-Mer, Olivier Véran assured him to feel
"a craze which rises among caregivers"
and excluded for the moment to make compulsory vaccination for health professionals.
