Paris (AFP)
The government officially launched on Monday the campaign to inject a third dose of anti-Covid vaccine into retirement homes, a measure recommended by health authorities to maintain the immune defenses of the approximately 600,000 seniors concerned.
More than eight months after having wiped the plasters of vaccination, the establishments for dependent elderly people (Ehpad) brought out the syringes to maintain a high level of protection for their residents, in accordance with the recommendations of the High Authority for Health.
"For the most vulnerable people, over time, the effectiveness of (the) vaccination decreases," said Prime Minister Jean Castex, who himself came to attend injections in a nursing home in Clamart, in the Paris suburbs.
This recall campaign is all the more important as the residents of retirement homes "paid a very heavy price" at the start of the epidemic, "before the vaccination arrived," he added.
According to official figures, the virus has killed more than 26,700 people in retirement homes, nearly a quarter of the total number of deaths in France.
But 90% of residents have now received two doses of vaccine and since then, their "death rate, and even disease, has dropped considerably," said the head of government.
In her nursing home in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, the ACPPA Péan, Madeleine Levieil, 98 years old, gave herself with good grace to her third injection.
Not necessarily to feel better protected but "to set an example", she explains.
"I do it because I am a reasonable person", smiles the old lady, who "finds ridiculous all these parades against the vaccination".
"This additional protection is welcome, to boost the immune system of residents and protect them before winter," said Dr Jean-Marie Nguyen Quang, coordinating doctor of this 94-place establishment, which lost nine residents during the first wave, in spring 2020.
- "Rediscover the joy of living" -
"Vaccination changed everything: residents were able to go out again, go to restaurants with their families, rediscover the joie de vivre that had been so lacking, everything that makes life worth living", summarizes the doctor.
An elderly patient receives her third dose of Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine on September 13, 2021 in Paris THOMAS COEX AFP
In addition, "we are fortunate not to have any vaccine resistant", underlines the director, Romy Lasserre.
"At the beginning, we had to communicate a lot because it was the unknown, but today we no longer need to convince. Everyone welcomes this third dose as a relief," she says.
If some establishments were able to carry out first injections at the end of last week, most of this recall campaign started on Monday.
Each facility can order 10 vials per week, or 70 doses, and will have to organize themselves to spread the injections over three to five weeks, depending on the date of the first injections.
Beyond nursing homes, the third dose is also recommended for the "5 million over 65 who had their second dose 6 months ago" - or their first, if they had the Covid - recalled the Prime Minister.
Among them, about 600,000 have already made an appointment to obtain this recall, according to him.
The attention of the public authorities is also focused on the 8 million French people who have not yet received their first dose, "in particular the most vulnerable among them", underlined Mr. Castex.
They "are not necessarily doctrinaire opponents of vaccination" but "we must go and find them where they are", including in isolated territories, he added.
For Pascal Champvert, of the AD-PA association, which brings together directors of nursing homes and home services, efforts must particularly focus on seniors with loss of autonomy who live at home: "they were unable to benefit logistics set up in retirement homes. As usual, the home sector has been somewhat forgotten in this crisis, "he said.
© 2021 AFP