The French Ministry of Health has given the green light to sell Corona self-tests "in pharmacies only", starting Monday, April 12, 2021. Therefore, 700,000 units will be delivered to pharmacies and 1.5 million this week, for 6 euros (about $ 7.2), so how Are used?
How effective is it?
According to what the pharmacist Christophe Adnes explained to Al-Jazeera Net, "a nasal swab is taken, then the swab is placed in a reagent, and if two lines appear, this means that the test is positive, and in this case the person must make the diagnosis to confirm or deny the infection."
With each self-test sale, pharmacists should provide advice for the correct functioning of the nasal sample and test and explain what actions to take if the result is positive.
Addnes adds that pharmacists enjoy more people's confidence than in the shops, so it is authorized to sell the tests only in pharmacies.
Today, it is the responsibility of people to declare their infection to help discover the variants of "Covid-19".
A self-test should not be performed if the person has symptoms or contact with an infected person, because in this case it is necessary to perform a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, or an antibody test ( Antigen-Tests) quickly.
If the self-test is positive, then the person should immediately isolate himself and avoid any direct contact with others.
Frequent use
The Ministry of Health recommends the repeated use of these self-tests, once or twice a week for people over 15 years of age who do not have any symptoms, because by repeating the self-test will facilitate detection of the disease at its beginning, especially in people who do not show symptoms easily.
"We do not yet have information about the effectiveness of the tests from a scientific point of view, and we cannot provide medical advice to patients about this," said Dr. Lihi Sharqi, a general medicine specialist. "Unfortunately, we still wait for the information that the government announces every time.
Fears
Pharmacists welcomed this step, but they asked about how to follow up the epidemic if the population became tests themselves instead of going to pharmacies or laboratories, according to a press release published by the National Council of the Pharmacists Syndicate.
Gilles Bonnefond, president of the USPO, says that the Medicines Agency has approved only 6 factories (4 Chinese and 2 French), meaning that the sale and distribution of tests may take longer.
In an exclusive interview with Al-Jazeera Net, epidemiologist Martin Blacher accuses Health Minister Olivier Ferrand of preventing the early sale of self-tests, and says that "all the procedures that the companies are supposed to follow were not well thought out, and even the prices were not negotiated as it was possible to It is cheaper, because the Minister of Health made the decision quickly in mid-March. Therefore, the distributors had to manufacture everything in two weeks. "
Among the disadvantages of the self-test is the difficulty in taking a sample and it is not possible to ensure that the case will be followed up if the result is positive (Al-Jazeera)
The epidemiologist adds, "I think that President Emmanuel Macron was the pressure card on the Ministry of Health to accelerate the adoption of self-examinations, as he finally understood that his minister was lost and was preventing this matter from being implemented in the required manner and time."
Among the disadvantages of self-testing:
Difficulty sampling.
Follow-up cannot be guaranteed if the result is positive.
Most pharmacies in France have not yet obtained these tests to sell them, especially since priority is given to schools and workers in nursing homes.
Some pharmacies that Al-Jazeera Net contacted stated that the tests they obtained did not exceed 10 and all were sold in less than an hour. Distributors also told them that they must wait for new orders because they have not yet received approval from the government.