"No pressure exerted" to change a mask stock report

Coronavirus: "No pressure was exerted" to modify an expert report on the stock of masks, according to the DGS (Archives) -

The Directorate General of Health responds.

Thursday, the DGS indeed assured that "no pressure" had been exerted to modify

an expert report recommending the constitution of a high stock of masks, which could have enabled the country not to miss at the start of the coronavirus epidemic.

The Senate commission of inquiry into the Covid-19 epidemic directly attributed the shortage of masks suffered by France to a decision taken in 2018 by the Director General of Health Jérôme Salomon not to renew the stock of masks surgical.

"Remove the reference to the size of the stock"

According to the senators, the Director General of Health "ordered the purchase of only 50 million masks (50 million additional if the budget permitted), less than the quantity necessary if only to renew those reaching expiry date end of 2019 ”.

The senators accuse him in particular of having made "modify

the conclusions of an expert report" which recommended the constitution of a "high stock, probably of around a billion surgical masks".

"The analysis of emails exchanged between the General Directorate of Health and Public Health France attests to direct pressure from Mr. Salomon on the agency to modify the wording of the recommendations of this report", to "make disappear the reference to the size of the stock ”, assures the commission.

"A total desire for transparency", defends Salomon

In a press release from the DGS, Jérôme Salomon "would like to point out that he himself provided all the email exchanges to members of the Senate inquiry committee", an approach which "is part of a total desire transparency ”.

The recommendations made at the time by Jérôme Salomon on masks to Public Health France "fall within the framework of a relationship between a public establishment under supervision and its public authority within the framework of its missions", continues the text. .

“Following these discussions, the Director General of Public Health France made changes (…) which were accepted by all of the report's contributors”.

"Consequently, no pressure was exerted on the group of experts", assures the DGS, which adds to have "answered all the questions relating to this subject before the Senate and provided all the elements requested by the committee of 'investigation ".

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