France: a mobile clinic to vaccinate migrants and homeless people in Paris
Audio 01:12
Porte de la Villette, in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, migrants and homeless people line up to be vaccinated against Covid-19 in the Médecins sans Frontières mobile clinic.
© Lou Romeo / RFI
Text by: Lou Roméo Follow
11 mins
Since the announcement of the health pass, the French have flocked to vaccination.
To allow everyone to benefit from it, Médecins sans frontières, in collaboration with the health authorities, has deployed a mobile clinic in Paris.
Objective: to vaccinate homeless and migrant people.
Publicity
Read more
“
Who is responsible for immunizing refugees, internally displaced persons and stateless persons?
"
,
Asked
the High Commissioner for Refugees
UN in January 2021. Following him in March, the Red Cross launched
an appeal for the vaccination of migrants
. In Île-de-France, the NGO
Médecins sans frontières
(MSF) was tasked by the Regional Health Agency (ARS) to vaccinate people in great poverty. The objective,
set by the French government
: to vaccinate 100% of asylum seekers and precarious refugees.
White tents are pitched along Avenue de la Porte de la Villette, in the 19th arrondissement of Paris.
This is where MSF has set up its mobile clinic.
Since June 8, the doctors and nurses who work there are also responsible for administering vaccines against Covid-19.
“
The clinic existed before the epidemic
,” recalls Christiana Castro, nurse and activity manager for the MSF France mission.
But with Covid-19, we have increased our presence.
Our objective is to ensure quality by reaching as close as possible to people who cannot travel to general public vaccination centers
.
"
Partnership with the Restos du cœur
Médecins sans frontières vaccines in migrant workers' homes, day centers and emergency accommodation centers.
Because for these homeless people, sometimes without papers, it can be complicated to make an appointment online.
Difficulty accessing the internet, reading and speaking French, fear of having to present documents when in an irregular situation, anxiety about the authorities ...
A large flag in the colors of Médecins sans Frontières provides information on vaccination in several languages.
© Lou Romeo / RFI
Partnerships have therefore been established with other associations, such as here with the
Restos du cœur
, whose distribution center is very close. One way to make oneself available in places already frequented by migrants and in great precariousness. It is this closeness that prompted Adama to be vaccinated. "
I am homeless
," explains this young Malian, 27 years old.
I live in the street, and I come to Porte de la Villette to see people and to eat. That's how I got the first dose of the vaccine: they were there and they offered to get me vaccinated.
The young man hesitates, however, to complete his vaccination with a second dose, because the first made him sick.
He now fears side effects, which are difficult to manage when sleeping in the street, despite the Doliprane distributed by MSF teams.
Unconditional vaccination
In the crowd, Fiovi distributes small hand-numbered papers.
This is how this social worker organizes the line that grows in front of the vaccination center and determines the order of passage of each.
The vaccine candidates are divided into two lines, one for the first dose, the other for the second.
Faced with a very precarious and not always sedentary public, it is difficult to ensure follow-up and guarantee the administration of the second dose of the vaccine.
Hence the importance of going out to meet them, and of being regularly present in the field.
The queues are divided into two lines, one for the first dose of vaccine and one for the second.
© Lou Romeo / RFI
The mobile clinic works without an appointment, and "
no paper is required
", emphasizes Christiana Castro.
“We are really in a logic of universal access to vaccination.
All you have to do is show up on Tuesday or Thursday between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
If they have social security, we ask them to bring their papers to complete the health pass on the internet, but if they do not have it, we also accept them
.
"
"
I feel protected
"
In the tail, we speak Dari, Pashtun, Arabic or even Bambara. An interpreter using eight languages accompanies the teams. Coming out of the tent, Adjiman, a 21-year-old Afghan boy, does not hide his joy. He exclaims in English "
I've got vaccine, I'm free
". He lives in a camp next door and came to get vaccinated with his friends. Fofana, who waits for the regulatory 15 minutes sitting on a plastic stool, is relieved, too. "
It was a friend who told me to come here,"
explains this 32-year-old Ivorian.
I am happy to be vaccinated: I will no longer be able to catch the virus or give it to someone else. I feel protected
. "
The
promiscuity
that reigns in the accommodation centers as in the camps increases the possibility of being infected by the virus and particularly exposes these precarious populations.
Weakened by the street, far from health structures, it is also difficult for them to receive proper treatment.
At the Porte de la Villette mobile clinic, an average of 120 people are therefore vaccinated every day.
A significant figure, but not yet sufficient to meet demand.
5,000 doses of vaccine
In the crowd, many are returning for the second or third time, failing to find a place in the previous days.
“
It's not so much that we run out of vaccine doses,”
explains Christiana Castro.
We are especially limited in human resources: we cannot vaccinate more with two doctors and four nurses.
Especially since demand has increased enormously since the announcement of the health pass.
"
The line is long to get vaccinated.
© Lou Romeo / RFI
Because for people on the street and migrants, entering a café or a library may be the only way to have access to the internet, a crucial tool for carrying out administrative procedures. For those who work, legally or informally, the vaccine is also a necessity. And in the crowd, we fear that entry into accommodation centers will end up being conditional on the presentation of a health pass.
Médecins sans frontières has thus administered nearly 5,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to people in great poverty since June 8.
But for Christiana Castro, this remains insufficient: "
I hope that with the Covid, we will realize that the right to health must benefit everyone, and that the efforts made during this epidemic will continue when it is over.
Everyone has the right to be treated
.
"
► Vaccination at the Porte de la Villette mobile clinic (19th century Paris) on Tuesdays and Thursdays 11 am-3pm; and from Monday to Friday in the cafeteria of the Restos du cœur at Porte de la Villette.
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Health and medicine
Coronavirus
Immigration
International Migration
Vaccines
our selection