Illustration of AstraZeneca vaccine vials – Manu Fernandez / AP / SIPA
- Jean Castex announced the opening during the weekend of slots dedicated to teachers in schools, colleges and high schools, early childhood professionals, police and gendarmes, prison supervisors, specialist nursery school officers (Atsem) and AESH (accompanying persons) children with disabilities).
- According to the latest figures from the Paca Regional Health Agency, 260,068 Azureans had received at least one dose of vaccine on Friday.
This weekend, the Alpes-Maritimes department experienced a slowdown in its vaccination campaign while it is one of the departments that vaccinates the most. With more than 260,000 people having received at least one dose of vaccine on Friday, the next logical step was to continue this momentum. It is missed for the first day of vaccination for priority professionals, such as teachers, police officers and other professions exposed to Covid, over the age of 55.
In Nice, the vaccination center of the exhibition center, which was to remain open all weekend to vaccinate these audiences, closed on Saturday in the middle of the day, for lack of candidates for the vaccination proposed with the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“We had only 58 people who presented themselves in the morning for 4,000 doses of vaccine available,” said Benoit Huber, chief of staff of the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes.
An operation that will continue for two weeks
“This operation was doomed to failure, reacted on social networks , Anthony Frémondière, Deputy Director of the Cabinet of the Mayor of Cannes. The public had the choice between a large remote departmental center, with a vaccine that nobody wants, or continue to go to certain very efficient municipal centers such as Cannes, which vaccinates with Pfizer and Moderna. Once again, the government and its local supporters are totally missing the mark, and masquerading communication is getting nowhere. “
In mid-March, the AstraZeneca vaccine, used exclusively this weekend in Nice, was suspended a few days after reports in Europe of very rare and very atypical thromboses (blood clots). After changing its position several times, France finally decided on March 19 to inject this vaccine only to those over 55, because these thromboses were mainly observed in younger subjects.
The operation is still expected to continue in the next two weeks for any candidates who present themselves. The prefecture adds that the eligible population is, in the Alpes-Maritimes, “relatively small” with 3,000 teachers aged 55 and over as well as a certain number having already been vaccinated. In Nice, for example, the town hall indicates that it has “almost completed” the vaccination of teachers in the city who are currently on vacation.