REPORTAGE
This year, all volunteer pharmacists in France will be able to vaccinate their clients against influenza. The vaccination campaign against the virus begins this Tuesday. Seniors, pregnant women and people suffering from obesity or certain chronic diseases: for about 16 million people, the vaccine is reimbursed at 100%. But do you know how these vaccines are made? Exclusively, Europe 1 was able to visit the Sanofi-Pasteur laboratory, which produces 200 million doses a year, which will then be transported to 150 countries.
30,000 doses produced per hour
It is in huge sterile vats that the influenza vaccine is kept cold, before being injected mechanically into the syringes. The last doses were completed this week at a rate of 30,000 doses per hour. A steady pace that was supervised by the human eye and controlled by computer.
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Inspect to the slightest defect on the glass of each syringe: a mandatory step that professionals call "the stage of 'mirage'". "'Mire' is to look through to make sure that it is free from a defect.As soon as the image of the camera is different from that expected by the computer, the syringe will be ejected "explains Philippe Juvin, pharmacist in charge of Sanofi-Pasteur at the European Microphone 1. But defects are rare: less than 3% of vaccines do not pass all quality controls.
Avoid the shortage
This year for Philippe Juvin and his teams, the challenge is to avoid the shortage. Last December, the government had to order new vaccines. "There is no risk of a shortage of vaccines this season," says Philippe Juvin. "The pre-orders made by the pharmacies have increased by 10 to 15%, and we ourselves have taken a safety margin to ensure that we can properly serve the market demand for this season," he says. at the level of Europe 1.