According to the Ministry of Health, around 70% of AstraZeneca doses are currently being taken.
Proof that confidence in this vaccine against Covid-19 is lastingly damaged.
However, two million doses have just arrived in France.
And if these vials remain in the fridges, the government's ambitious vaccination schedule risks being untenable.
To restore confidence, some offer several avenues.
“20 Minutes” details some of them.
Gabriel Attal reaffirmed it on Sunday: the government intends to keep its ambitious schedule.
Namely 20 million first-time vaccinated on May 15, 30 million on June 15.
A realistic timing if we are to believe the boss of Doctolib, partner of the Ministry of Health for making appointments, in town as in the 1,800 centers of the territory.
Because the doses arrive, the platforms are in working order, the caregivers authorized to be vaccinated are numerous and ready ... On condition that, again and again, the fears about the AstraZeneca are raised.
Millions of doses to go
With this serum, it's almost a dead end. Indeed, since March 19, vaccination with AstraZeneca has been limited to those over 55 years of age. Even for those who have already had a first injection with it, they should turn to Pfizer or Moderna for the second. Of course, there would still be around 5 million French people over 55 to be vaccinated, but within a few weeks, this contingent should have significantly decreased. And while only 75% of the doses of AstraZeneca find takers today, France received this week 2 million of these vials. According to the Ministry of Finance and Recovery, a total of 36 million doses are expected by December 2021.
"It is certain that to sell these doses, it will be necessary to vaccinate more, recognizes the Ministry of Health.
So increase membership in AstraZeneca.
But we feel a positive thrill.
We see that there is a dynamic of orders from health professionals: they have waiting lists, volunteers.
Without hiding that, depending on the profession, the flow rate varies a lot: 15% for nurses (out of 100 doses received, 15 are used), 75% for general medicine and 90% in pharmacies.
To avoid waste and further delays, the government must therefore find ways to restore confidence in AstraZeneca.
Ensure and distribute deliveries
“Reluctance has been felt for a while in our practices,” confirms Luc Duquesnel, general practitioner in Mayenne. Here, general practitioners, pharmacists, nurses, we pool our doses and manage to vaccinate 200 to 300 patients per week. But it is a lot of persuasion work! Many accuse the media of having insisted too much on rare cases of atypical thrombosis (blood clots). Since March 19, the National Medicines Agency has listed 28 cases of thrombosis, including 8 deaths… out of 3.6 million injections in France of AstraZeneca. The French currently have a 0.0002% risk of dying from post-vaccination thrombosis with Swedish-British serum.
A figure that must come up often in the offices where we vaccinate. Because the government relies on general practitioners, nurses, midwives and pharmacists, who vaccinate in town exclusively with this vaccine, to reassure patients. The problem - which continues - is that the doses are not always well distributed. "Renewing confidence would already be ensuring deliveries," annoys Matthieu Calafiore, general practitioner in the Lille suburbs. My order of April 19 has still not been honored! I don't even know if I will be able to give my patients the second injection. They say to themselves: "What are they hiding from us?" "
He ensures that if the time of shortage is behind us, that of red tape remains relevant.
As proof: the centers where the doses are overflowing cannot give their surplus to general practitioners… “Yet patients who doubt trust their general practitioner, insists this doctor, member of the collective On the side of science.
A couple came to be vaccinated on Saturday when all the stories of thrombosis were starting to come out.
I spent twenty minutes explaining the benefits, the risks;
these patients are vaccinated.
The complementarity between centers and cities only exists on paper.
"
Review communication
Should the government review its copy on the communications side? This is one of the recommendations published Monday by the citizen collective on vaccination: organize targeted communication by age groups and positive. "We have to communicate on the benefits, on the fact that individual protection will lead to general protection," assures Gilles, member of the 35 citizens drawn by lot. And target the interest of people over 50: meet up with friends, travel… ”Work at the Ministry of Health is in fact underway to carry out a campaign targeting those over 55.
“We need a real educational campaign with clear messages,” continues Matthieu Calafiore.
Explain that the risk of thrombosis, just by smoking, by taking an airplane, is much greater.
Why not imagine a prime-time medical show to explain the principle of vaccines?
And insist on generational support: we all have a role to play and that of the over 55s, it may be to choose the AstraZeneca.
»In order to free up the doses of other vaccines for the youngest.
But Gilles doubts that this message on intergenerational solidarity will work: “the French are too individualistic.
"
Give the example
Another avenue: open up vaccination with AstraZeneca to those under 55. Olivier Véran has also seized the High Authority of Health, which should, according to the ministry, give its opinion in the coming days. “It would be a way of not accumulating stock and respecting the schedule,” assures Luc Duquesnel. Other countries are doing it. These thromboses are extremely rare and do not only affect people under the age of 55. "The ANSM indeed specifies in its latest bulletin that" the new cases concern patients with an average age of 64 years ". “There is no compelling scientific reason to have set the bar at 55”, adds Matthieu Calafiore.
“If elected officials were massively vaccinated with AstraZeneca, that would serve as an example, suggests Luc Duquesnel, president of the generalist branch of the Confederation of French Medical Syndicates. I think quite a few of them are over 55, especially in the Senate! "
Not necessarily the best idea, according to Gilles.
“Many French people no longer have confidence in politicians.
Better to talk about vaccination specialists, but also people who have been vaccinated with AstraZeneca.
Which could explain why they made this choice and what side effects they experienced.
For this sixty-year-old, things are clear.
“When I joined the citizen collective, I was not for the vaccine, he admits.
Now, I don't think we can do otherwise.
And next week, I will register to receive the AstraZeneca.
"
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