In a vaccination center in France. – SYSPEO
- Ascension Bridge at the end of this week may look like a light at the end of the tunnel after weeks of travel bans.
- But with the closure of several vaccination centers and the departure for four days of some, the pace of vaccination could be slowed.
An impressive figure: 617,000 injections. This is, for the moment, the record of vaccinations carried out in 24 hours in France, on Friday, May 7. One more sign that the acceleration of the vaccination campaign is a reality. And this despite the difficulties in selling the doses of AstraZeneca …
But the Ascension Bridge, from May 13 to 16, then Pentecost, from May 22 to 24, do they not risk slowing down this surge? And therefore to slow down, while the government has set itself ambitious objectives: 20 million first-time vaccinated in mid-May, and 30 million in mid-June?
Four days of bridging and fewer injections
Four days without video, without school at home (the National Education makes the bridge) outside the few walls whose color we are beginning to know … After a third flexible confinement, with a ban on going more than 10 km, from the Monday May 3, the French have again the right to move. Alas, this year, May 8 fell on a Saturday. The temptation is therefore particularly strong to take advantage of Ascension Thursday this week to leave for four days. Problem: some vaccination centers may also take a few days off.
“Next Saturday, we will have one in two centers open,” explains Matthieu Becamel, spokesperson by Maiia, one of the partner platforms of the Ministry of Health for making appointments. For Sunday, we would be at 20%. By comparison, on May 1, also a public holiday, there was 70% openness and a strong mobilization because we had received a lot of vaccines. »Stanislas Niox-Château, boss of
Doctolib, supplemented this information during a press point last Thursday: almost two thirds of the 2,200 centers in France announced themselves closed for the Ascension.
But Matthieu Becamel wishes to reassure: “We risk wasting time, but not doses. And it is already a bit the case every weekend. It is also necessary that the caregivers rest from time to time! It’s complicated to run at full speed 24 hours a day for these centers. Each week in May, a total of 2.7 million doses are received from Pfizer and Moderna. The caregivers responded. We had a 20 to 50% increase in appointment scheduling depending on the center each month. However, Olivier Véran beats the recall on Twitter. Even using his talents as a vaccinator: he will indeed be at the Montrouge vaccination center this Tuesday evening to set an example.
From this weekend and throughout the week and the Ascension Bridge, we are mobilizing all our strength to vaccinate.
There are vaccines.
There are appointments.
Whether before leaving for the weekend or during public holidays, let’s get vaccinated!– Olivier Véran (@olivierveran) May 7, 2021
Second problem: even if the caregivers are mobilized, will the citizens be there? Because these days in the green will necessarily rhyme with slots left open. According to Doctolib, “Currently, the appointment forecasts are 209,000 slots taken for the holiday Thursday, 337,000 on Friday despite the bridge, and 207,000 on Saturday. The projections are identical to those of last week, which is encouraging. “We are still far from the more than 600,000 doses injected last Friday (traditionally the most requested day of the week)… And on Pentecost Monday, this is likely to repeat itself.
Expanded access precisely at the time of the bridge
But two novelties could, this week, allow to stay the course. First of all, since Monday, anyone over 50 (so far it was over 55) can make an appointment to be vaccinated. Above all, so that there is no dose of wasted, from this Wednesday 4 p.m., all adult volunteers will be able to make an appointment for the next day if a center near their home finds themselves with doses on their hands. An opening that comes at the right time, precisely during the Ascension weekend.
“It’s the right combination: reserve the doses for the most fragile people, but what is not provided, we allow them to be given to volunteers,” says Matthieu Becamel. The centers were already doing it on weekday evenings if they found themselves with doses on their hands, they vaccinated populations that requested it. With this automation, it will be done on a larger scale. By stepping out of the D system, which favors those who have the right contacts… “This gives everyone the same chance to have access to the vaccine,” he continues. Above all, it will relieve the centers which made the listings themselves. “
Contacted, the Directorate General of Health (DGS) tells us that other measures to anticipate and compensate for this decrease have also been taken: “more appointments throughout the week, night hours at the beginning of the week especially in “departure” areas, opening of centers at least at the same level as every weekend and special vaccination operations with Janssen in seaside resorts. “