From Monday, May 31, the vaccination campaign against Covid-19 will be officially open to all adults.
This new step towards the long-awaited collective immunity, a sine qua non for a definitive exit from the health crisis, however, goes hand in hand with new challenges: ensuring that all volunteers obtain an appointment within an acceptable timeframe, not leave no one behind but also convince the most recalcitrant.
As for access to the appointment, the health authorities are rather calm.
The vaccination campaign seems to have found its cruising speed.
And if 20 million additional people will be eligible for vaccination from Monday, the promises of a boost in vaccination centers, an additional influx of doses in the coming weeks and the deployment of Moderna vaccines in pharmacies and doctors' offices in town should be sufficient to meet the demand.
"Everything is done to vaccinate strongly and to vaccinate quickly. We keep and will keep our commitments on vaccination", assured Olivier Véran on May 17, on the set of BFMTV.
On the other hand, among doctors, more and more voices are raised in recent days to express the fear that the vaccination campaign will reach a ceiling, in the coming weeks, by clashing with the hesitant and those far from the health system. "When we have vaccinated all the volunteers, we will have to go and look for the others", already alarmed at France 24, a few weeks ago, Vincent Maréchal, professor of virology at the University of Paris-Sorbonne. "We will have to go out and meet all the people far from the health system and confront all the people who are recalcitrant in the face of vaccination," he warned.
This is indeed what has been observed in the United States.
Since mid-April, when the threshold of 50% of the population having received a first dose was crossed, the vaccination campaign has been significantly slowed down: after the record of 3.38 million doses administered per day in mid-April. -April, the number of daily injections fell 41% in one month according to the New York Times.
Same observation in the United Kingdom or in Israel.
As of May 28, more than 25 million French people have received a first dose of vaccine in France, or 47% of the adult population.
Reach out to people far from the health system
"We now know that a few groups are not as well vaccinated as they should be. A quarter of those over 80 still have not received an injection, despite being among the first to benefit. ", recognizes Saturday, May 29 Alain Fisher, the president of the Steering committee for the vaccine strategy, in an interview with L'Express.
"These people are not very mobile, and probably not very inclined to go to vaccination centers or to their general practitioner. It is therefore essential that doctors or nurses go to them. But it takes time", analyzes- he does.
In the elderly, some signs of slowing down of the vaccination campaign already seem to appear.
According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Health, available on the Doctolib platform, the curve barely increases among those over 70, stagnating at 82.6% for those aged 70-74 and 79% for those over 75. vaccinated with at least one dose.
The problem also arises for people in a very precarious situation.
"For them, vaccinodromes are not very useful," explains Vincent Maréchal.
"The majority will not take the step to be vaccinated on their own, quite simply because they are far from these issues. This is where local actors play a major role. Everything must be focused on proximity. . "
Nationally, several systems have already been put in place to deal with this problem, in particular call or SMS campaigns.
In Seine-Saint-Denis, the poorest department in France, the Primary Health Insurance Fund has, for example, deployed local vaccination centers where people can come without an appointment.
At the same time, awareness campaigns have been set up in public places.
Convince the most recalcitrant
There remains the major issue of mistrust of vaccines.
According to an OpinionWay poll carried out from May 3 to 11 for the newspaper Le Monde, 20% of French people over 18 refuse to be vaccinated, and 13% say they are still undecided.
The French public health agency highlights even more worrying figures.
According to a study published on May 7 and carried out among people who have not yet been vaccinated, 44% say they do not want to do so.
If this figure has fallen sharply since January 2021, these "antivaxes" would prevent collective immunity from being achieved.
According to the Academy of Medicine, it will indeed be necessary to vaccinate 90% of adults or 80% of the total population to emerge sustainably from the health crisis.
In a press release published Tuesday, May 25, the advisory body therefore recommends making vaccination compulsory, first for essential professions such as caregivers or teachers, then to those in contact with the public and students. For the moment, the government refuses this solution, preferring to bet on the ripple effect. "The conviction that has been ours since the beginning of the crisis is that it is more effective to bet on confidence and conviction", reacted Thursday Emmanuel Macron, recalling however that "no door is closed in essence". In addition, the implementation of the health pass, from June 9, should encourage some undecided to take the plunge.
Others argue for setting up small gifts for vaccinated people, like what has been done in several countries, especially in the United States.
To meet the goal of at least 70% of adults vaccinated with a first dose by the July 4 national holiday, some states have announced lotteries, with thousands of dollars up for grabs, for those vaccinated.
Sports leagues have promised tickets to the stadium for those vaccinated.
An incentive technique soon to be adopted in France?
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