Covid-19: kick-off of the vaccination campaign in France
In France, the first phase of vaccination concerns 750,000 nursing home residents as well as 90,000 employees of these establishments.
AFP - STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN
Text by: RFI Follow
8 min
This Sunday, December 27, France is launching its vaccination campaign to fight against the coronavirus.
For the moment, only the elderly living in collective accommodation establishments and the professionals who work there and who present a risk of developing a serious form of Covid-19 can benefit from this first phase of vaccination.
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Concretely, vaccination is done only on medical prescription.
A prescription which must imperatively be preceded by a consultation with his attending physician.
It is the attending physician who is responsible for detecting any contraindications, reminding his patient of the benefits and risks of the vaccine, but also obtaining his consent and entering it in his medical file.
A consent on which the patient has the possibility to revert until D-day.
Injections can be done in the room, and in the event of insufficient staff to administer them, establishments can request support from regional health agencies.
Regarding monitoring, the Ministry of Health has promised the establishment of reinforced pharmacovigilance, supported by a network of 31 regional centers, to report any adverse effects or serious cases.
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To read: Covid-19: start of vaccination campaigns in the EU from December 27
The first vaccinations in Sevran and Dijon
This Sunday, they will be in all about twenty, in two medical establishments for the elderly in the Paris suburbs and Burgundy-Franche-Comté, to be vaccinated.
Vaccination is done first in these two centers.
We do not vaccinate on a large scale because the very first doses of the vaccine arrived on French soil on Saturday, and we have just enough doses to make these first injections.
Why Sevran and Dijon?
The
Seine-Saint-Denis
, where Sevran is located, is the department where the excess mortality related virus was highest in Île-de-France.
This region has paid the heaviest price for the epidemic, with nearly 1,500 people having died there since last March.
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté is one of the regions with the highest incidence rate.
As a reminder: the incidence rate is the value used to measure the number of people infected per 100,000 inhabitants.
In these two towns, only a handful of people over 65 will be vaccinated: residents of establishments, but also two doctors.
They are among the people targeted as priorities by the government.
" It's good news.
The year 2021 will start with hope.
"
François Rebsamen, mayor (PS) of Dijon, on the start of the vaccination campaign against Covid-19 in France
Consent of the elderly
The first phase of vaccination concerns 750,000 nursing home residents, as well as 90,000 employees of these establishments.
The first surveys carried out by some directors of nursing homes indicate that barely 25% to 30% of their residents would be candidates for vaccination.
Another third is hesitant, the last fiercely opposed.
In the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul nursing home in Vendée, in the west of France, most residents are in favor of the vaccination, although a few remain suspicious.
Céline is a referral nurse in this establishment: “
We must leave the choice to the residents, with all the knowledge we currently have about this vaccine, and really give them time to think, to make their decision and to support them in this process. Steps.
"
This nurse understands their desire to be vaccinated: “
This confinement and this lack of social connection with the outside are very heavy.
In general, they believe that this vaccine would allow them to regain a social life.
There is life in the residence, but it is really the loved ones that are missing.
"
The director of this Ehpad in Vendée, Bruno Gaboriau, recalls that residents will have the free choice to be vaccinated or not:
“
Concerning people who have cognitive disorders, some of them have protective measures, and when one speaks to their guardian, the latter tends to say that it is necessary to ask the person concerned what that she wants ... even if she has cognitive impairment.
"
For this director of nursing home, listening to the person's words is therefore essential, and he admits that some children of residents have already expressed their refusal to have their parents vaccinated:
"
We also have advice in terms of ethics, on which we will rely to respect the free choice of each person
", concludes Bruno Gaboriau.
A second vaccine phase, with a more massive destocking of doses, is scheduled for the week of January 11, 2021. The vaccine developed by the
Pfizer-BioNTech laboratory
will be free, but will not be compulsory
For or against the vaccine?
The opinion of the residents of the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul nursing home in Vendée
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To read: Covid-19: the first doses of the vaccine have arrived in France
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