Only 3.2 million people in France were vaccinated from December to March.
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SYSPEO / SIPA
This is the government's new slogan: vaccination must be "accelerated" in France.
To reach the ten million people vaccinated in April, the vaccination rate in France must more than double compared to this week.
What measures are in place to achieve such an objective?
Between Sunday, December 27, the date of the first French vaccination against the coronavirus, and this Friday, March 5, 3.2 million people received at least a first dose (also called a primary injection) of anti-Covid-19 vaccine in France.
This Thursday evening, at a press conference, Prime Minister Jean Castex set himself the goal of reaching "at least 20 million people" who received a first-time injection in mid-May, including ten million from mid-May. April.
To reach ten million vaccinated by mid-April, the average by then will have to be established at 160,000 first injections per day.
Size problem, this week, only 73,000 first injections per day were performed.
It will therefore be necessary to more than double the pace.
The government intends to take this problem head-on, since between this Thursday evening and this Friday morning, it is Jean Castex, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran and the government spokesman Gabriel Attal who have in turn declared the desire to "speed up vaccination".
Yes but how ?
20 Minutes
takes stock of Jean Castex's announcements on this subject.
Open vaccination on weekends
The weekend was the low time for vaccination at the moment.
On Sunday February 28, for example, only 5,304 first-time injections were carried out according to the government website, against more than 60,000 on Monday March 1 and 93,000 on Tuesday March 2.
Something to think about.
"Everyone must be on the bridge, including the weekend, to vaccinate as quickly as possible", declared Thursday Jean Castex.
An operation that takes effect this weekend, he said, in priority in the 23 departments placed under enhanced surveillance.
In Ile-de-France, 44,000 doses of Pfizer will have to be administered by Sunday evening, including 11,000 in Paris.
In Nice, 12,000 doses can be sold this weekend.
For Alice Desbiolles, doctor specializing in public health, “anything that can broaden the scope of vaccination is going in the right direction.
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Insist on nursing staff and nursing home professionals
“Only one in three caregivers is vaccinated today.
This is not normal, ”said Jean Castex this Thursday evening.
Olivier Véran for his part called for "the responsibility for caregivers to protect themselves and avoid exposing those in care", and announced his intention to write to all caregivers this Friday.
According to several media sources, a debate agitates the executive to know whether to make vaccination compulsory for caregivers.
Alice Desbiolle is very skeptical: “I am absolutely in favor of the vaccine, but not of its obligation.
The lack of adherence of the population to the vaccine is a major risk, and we must convince people - including some caregivers -, not force them.
An obligation is the best way to increase mistrust and refusal of vaccination.
She pleads for education, also recalling that at the legal level, the obligation would be complex to put in place - and that the Council of State would surely oppose it.
“There is an ethical and legal importance to consent to care that I feel is necessary to preserve at this time,” she notes.
Authorize pharmacists and other health professionals to vaccinate
The Haute Autorité de santé (HAS) has approved and recommended vaccination by nurses and pharmacists.
This Thursday, the government authorized them to vaccinate (in addition to the doctors already authorized).
People over 50 years of age with a comorbidity will be able to be vaccinated by their pharmacist without a prescription, from March 15 - the date of a new reception of AstraZeneca doses.
An appointment will be possible with pharmacists or from the Ordoclic website.
According to Alice Desbiolle, "we must open up vaccination to pharmacists, midwives, nurses, because it is not a complicated act and it allows a better sharing of health tasks", many doctors complaining of not being able to manage their patients in addition to vaccination.
Opening up vaccination to new categories of the population
Since Tuesday, March 2, people 65 to 74 years of age with comorbid conditions can be vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, an additional two and a half million people.
This opening allowed a clear acceleration this week of vaccination coverage: the number of first-time injections per day increased by 80% compared to the previous week.
From mid-April, all people aged 50 to 74 can be vaccinated.
For now, only those with coronavirus comorbidities are eligible.
More vaccine doses
"If we want to reach a cruising speed, we will especially need sufficient doses," recalls Alice Desbiolle, for whom all the measures previously mentioned will be rendered null and void in the event of a shortage of doses.
Regarding deliveries, things are accelerating.
Twenty-two million doses are expected in March and April, against seven million in January and February.
For the month of May alone, twenty million additional doses are expected to be delivered.
Provided that there is no delay or reduction in doses, as has been the case in recent weeks.
"What the slowness of vaccination shows is above all France's dependence on others and the need to develop the production of public health products specific to the country", pleads Alice Desbiolle.
Even if the doses aren't everything.
As of March 3, only 21.2% of AstraZeneca doses received by France had been injected.
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