Bozouls (France) (AFP)
“I'm going to take a bite, is it good for you?” Asks Camille Belo, nurse in the Caselles nursing home in Bozouls (Aveyron).
The flu virus vaccination campaign, which has just started across France in the midst of the Covid-19 epidemic, was expected by the vast majority of the 66 residents of this establishment.
The overcast sky and the light rain leave in darkness the reception room of this Ehpad, located not far from the Aubrac mountains, where the first vaccines have just been delivered.
According to the director of the establishment, who has worked here for almost 30 years, there will be few reluctant residents.
“This year, we didn't really need to convince them,” said Pierre Roux, adding that they had almost all agreed to be vaccinated.
"What matters is that 80 to 90% of residents are."
All the staff of the Caselles nursing home has already been vaccinated, reminds Mr. Roux.
- "I didn't feel anything" -
Before entering the infirmary, Emilienne Doutart, 88, asks management to increase the temperature of the heating in her room.
This resident with a strong character, blond bun tied with white pearls, is vaccinated every year.
"I've never had the flu, never had a bad reaction," she recalls.
Nurse Camille Belo, with a reassuring voice and whose smile we can guess behind her mask, prepares the vaccine that she is going to inoculate him.
"I'll take your jacket. Do I do it in the shoulder?" Asks the nurse.
"I would prefer, yes," the resident replies.
"I didn't feel anything, as usual (...) And if it could delay the other virus, that would be good", she hopes, before leaving the infirmary with the anise green walls, the hands clinging to his walker.
While there may be a co-circulation of the influenza virus and the coronavirus this winter, health authorities hope to avoid an influx of patients suffering from a severe form of influenza because the health system is already close to the saturation.
- "Breathe, it will be fine" -
It is the turn of Etienne Fabre, 92, to be vaccinated.
The nurse asks him to take off his blue waistcoat and black jacket before putting it on.
"I'm going to bite, is it good for you? Breathe well, it will be okay", warns Camille Belo.
"We disinfect and we can lower the shirt".
Back in the reception room, a resident asks him if he has been vaccinated.
“Yes, I do it every year, it's important,” says Étienne Fabre, joining the others before lunch.
At a few tables, Raymonde Segond, 88, explains that she has never been vaccinated against the flu.
"Me, I do not (...) I do not know why. There must be people more fragile than others".
The seasonal flu vaccine is recommended for people over 65, for people suffering from chronic pathologies and those in morbid obesity, as well as pregnant women, those around infants and immunocompromised people.
The vaccination campaign runs until the end of January 2021.
© 2020 AFP