The Nice vaccination center, closed this Saturday for lack of volunteers – VALERY HACHE / AFP
- Only 70% of the delivered doses of AstraZeneca and Moderna were used in France.
- A relative slowness which pushes more and more young people to claim the vaccination open to all, in order to run out all the doses.
- But behind the laudable intention, the idea could cause more inconvenience than solutions.
This Saturday, a vaccination center in Nice had to close for lack of volunteers, a symbol of the underuse of the AstraZeneca vaccine in France. According to data from Public Health France, only 74% of the doses delivered were used in the country. An even lower percentage at Moderna, which only has 68% of injected doses. Far, very far behind Pfizer-BioNtech, of which 92% of the 13.3 million doses against the coronavirus had been administered this Sunday.
Faced with such non-use, more and more non-eligible people are outraged and demand a vaccination open to all, according to the idea “If the priority people do not want to be vaccinated, we are volunteers. On paper, the intention may sound pleasant, but the reality is quite different.
The injustice of a vaccination open to all
At least as long as the doses are limited, which should remain a constant until this summer. Laurent Chambaud, director of the School of Advanced Studies in Public Health, explains: “As long as the doses are insufficient to slow down viral circulation, we must prioritize people likely to develop serious forms. We are talking about a matter of life and death. Just look at the success of vaccination in nursing homes. “
Vaccination open to all would be all the more unfavorable to fragile people as they would be disadvantaged. Healthy and young people are more mobile, therefore likely to have access to more different vaccination centers, and have better use of digital technology – where slots can be reserved. The frail and elderly would then find themselves the losers. “If we open up to everyone, it is likely that the people for whom the vaccine would be the most beneficial will be completely overtaken by young people with less priority. There would be an injustice of access to vaccination ”, supports Laurent Chambaud.
A deleterious engorgement
And precisely, nothing says that the slowness to vaccinate vulnerable people comes from a lack of volunteerism on their part. According to an Odoxa survey for Le Figaro and France Info in early April, only 55% of 18-24 year olds and 58% of 25-34 year olds want to be vaccinated. Against 77% of over 65s. “The more fragile people are, the less mobile they are and the less access to care. Ditto for precarious people. This is why vaccination can take time, especially for those over 75 years old, ”explains Dr Jérôme Marty. Mobile units are now in place to bring the vaccine directly to vulnerable people.
Not to mention the engorgement that a vaccination for everyone would cause. For the moment, vaccination is open to everyone over 55, or just over 16 million people in France (many of whom have already been vaccinated). Opening it up to the entire population over 20 would add 35 million potential volunteers. That is to say a much, much greater demand than the current supply. “I can understand that an empty center of volunteers is irritating, but what about a country with too many people eligible for so few doses?” », Asks Laurent Chambaud. “We would find scenarios as with the tests at the beginning, with queues of 400 meters and saturation”, estimates Jérôme Marty. Not enough to relax the country.
What efficiency?
Beyond these inconveniences, remains a question: would vaccination open to all really be useful? AstraZeneca is the vaccine that raises the most reluctance, and it is banned in France at least 55 years. Making it available “would raise a lot of ethical and moral questions”, fears Laurent Chambaud. And if it is not recommended at least 55 years, opening the vaccination to everyone would not solve the problem.
Due to a limited number of doses, Laurent Chambaud also notes that the vaccination of young people in part would have no significant effect on the epidemic: “The virus would still circulate a lot, and since fragile people would not all be vaccinated. , would continue to saturate hospitals and cause deaths. In other words, with limited doses, we are much more effective in insisting on fragile people, even if it may seem sluggish. The director concludes: “We have no chance of lifting the barrier measures by vaccinating 15 million young people. It is already more viable if we vaccinate the 15 million vulnerable people ”. What to take our pain patiently.