While the French are preparing to go on vacation, the Minister of Health has announced a derogatory measure to facilitate the making of appointments and avoid slowing down the pace of vaccination.
But the centers also face the leave of their own staff, and must anticipate an inevitable slowdown in the pace.
The summer holidays are approaching and the issue of slowing down the coronavirus vaccination campaign is worrying.
To avoid congestion of centers on tourist sites, the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, announced Thursday a derogatory measure aimed at facilitating the making of an appointment for a second injection in the same center during the holiday period.
But overall, what are the rules of the vaccination game for this summer, and how are the centers organized?
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Second injection at his vacation spot
The rule, normally, is to receive your second injection at the same place as the first, 42 days later.
But to facilitate the organization of the holidays, the time between the two doses has been extended this week.
This can now be up to eight weeks for messenger RNA vaccines, and for AstraZeneca, this period is 12 weeks between the two doses.
It is up to everyone, therefore, to do their calculations, either to make these two injections before leaving, or to place their vacation in between.
But exceptionally, it is still possible to give the second injection at the place of vacation.
In this case, you must book your appointment in advance, in a center, in a pharmacy or with a doctor.
And above all, don't forget to cancel the second initial meeting.
In addition, people who have already had Covid-19 only need one injection.
Rapid serological tests will soon be available in vaccination centers to verify this.
If the result is positive, there will be no second date to be scheduled this summer.
It is estimated that between 20 and 40% of French people are affected.
This summer, if you are not sure if you came back from vacation for your 2nd injection of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, you can delay your second injection up to 14 days.
pic.twitter.com/B8jm2S4mf6
- Olivier Véran (@olivierveran) June 2, 2021
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Responsible vaccine dose management
Despite this organization, many centers will necessarily have to slow down.
This is particularly the case in the Lille metropolis.
Europe 1 went to a vaccination center which will slow down the rate of the first injections from next week.
In July and August, caregivers will be less available for the second dose.
In addition, a number of people who will receive their first dose in the next few days may not make their appointment in the middle of the summer.
To this must be added the leave of immunization staff whose numbers will be reduced in July and August, which will force Dr. Charni to slow down the pace of the first injections to adapt to the number of caregivers available for the second doses. "Despite the fact that we put the students in the loop, all these caregivers, they have families, they have children ... In short, they have the right to go on vacation. And therefore, we prefer anticipate: reduce our pace a little bit, but above all not stop it, "he said at the microphone of Europe 1." Instead of staying at 2,300 or 2,500 patients per week, we are going to go from 1,600 to 1,800 patients. "
A decision against the current movement, regrets Alexandra, one of the nurses. "It is true that slowing down that undermines us a bit. I will not hide from you that it is true that we would have preferred to keep the same pace and to vaccinate as many people as possible regardless of age", she reacts. , while vaccination will soon be open to everyone. However, this measure is necessary to ensure responsible management of vaccine doses.