“There are so many people today who want to be vaccinated,” said Senator LaREM. This measure would make it possible to avoid wasting doses, while continuing the vaccination campaign.
France suspended the AstraZeneca vaccine on Monday, due to rare cases of thrombosis observed in vaccinated people – without a proven link for the time being. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is due to vote on this subject on Thursday, and depending on its findings, the executive will reinstate vaccination.
But this umpteenth episode around AstraZeneca gives it a very bad image: only 20% of French people questioned now say they have confidence in its use, according to an Elabe poll for BFMTV, which raises fears of a slowdown in vaccination with this product. Unless you change your strategy? This is what some parliamentarians are proposing.
“If tomorrow there is reluctance among an eligible population, let’s open up to a population less eligible today” the vaccination of AstraZeneca, proposes to BFMTV François Patriat, senator of Côte-d’Or, president of the group En Marche in the Senate . “There are so many people today who want to be vaccinated that it will be necessary to open up more widely the possibility for the French to be vaccinated”.
In addition to the doubts caused by these thromboses, the AstraZeneca vaccine suffers from a bad image after various episodes questioning its efficacy and safety. There were the strong side effects reported by some caregivers, the early beginnings of vaccinating older people, and reports of delivery delays.
“Unfortunately it is the cursed vaccine”, declared Tuesday on BFMTV Jean-Daniel Lelièvre, head of the infectious diseases department at the Henri-Mondor Hospital in Créteil.
“That not a dose of AstraZeneca vaccine is wasted”
This possibility of expanding vaccination with AstraZeneca has already been raised by members of the majority, as reported The Parisian Tuesday. According to the newspaper, President LaREM of the National Assembly Richard Ferrand suggested to the Prime Minister that vaccination be open to new categories of people, if there were not enough volunteers in the public arrested for the moment. “Yes, yes, we will look”, would have replied Jean Castex.
Women deputies Republicans Annie Genevard and Constance Le Grip have, for their part, already testified on Twitter of their agreement with this proposal.
“Today, if we really want to fight the resuscitation problem, not a dose of AstraZeneca vaccine must be lost,” says François Patriat. “From tomorrow, if this opinion is positive, let’s resume vaccination.”
If the product, when closed, is easier to store than Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, the vial – ten doses of vaccine – can be stored for 48 hours once opened. However, with the announcement of Emmanuel Macron on Monday, caregivers report having had to throw away doses. “I started to vaccinate nine people (Tuesday) morning and then in the afternoon I learned that France was suspending the vaccination campaign,” says a pharmacist on BFMTV. “So I have the tenth dose left. It hurts my heart because it’s something precious.”
“Out of the question” to throw away doses
Until then, the target audience for this vaccine included people with comorbidities over 50, all over 75, but also all “health professionals and the medico-social sector, as well as home helpers working with vulnerable people and firefighters regardless of their age “, explains the Administration website.
Recalling “the need for vaccination, which is the only way we have to get out of this crisis quickly”, virologist Mylène Ogliastro emphasizes on BFMTV that “it is necessary to use (the AstraZeneca vaccine) to the maximum and without losing a single dose “. “It’s good to expand and obviously these vaccines, we must not lose them” says Marie Msika-Razon, general practitioner in Paris.
The two caregivers, on the other hand, are more skeptical about the vaccine capacities for this vaccine, because few doses are distributed. By “generalizing to all volunteers, I fear that we will have a lot of volunteers and ultimately few doses”, declares Marie Msika-Razon, although she specifies that it is obviously “out of the question” of any throw some.
To reassure the French, Jean Castex said Tuesday evening, during an interview on BFMTV, that he will be vaccinated with AstraZeneca, “as soon as all guarantees are provided”.
—
