“We vaccinated more than last year”, explains the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France

The flu reached a high level of activity in France in mid-January. Nearly 11 million people have been vaccinated and pharmacies are starting to run out of doses.

“We vaccinated more than last year and that’s why we are a little short” of doses, explains Monday January 20 on franceinfo Philippe Besset, community pharmacist, president of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France (FSPF) and the Liberals of Health (LBS), while many pharmacies are out of vaccines against flu at the height of the epidemic.

franceinfo: We are calling on the population to be vaccinated when there are sometimes shortages of doses, isn’t this sending a contradictory message to the public? ?

Philippe Besset: Not really, because we are at the end of the vaccination campaign. It takes place in November-December and runs until January 31. We vaccinated more than last year and that is why we are a little short of doses. We should be able to vaccinate nearly 11 million people. It’s a lot more than last year, which is good news.

We are only 35% of targeted people vaccinated. Is this a lot for a campaign against the flu? ?

This is traditionally not much in France. The most we managed to vaccinate in past years was 12 million people. This is low compared to the 20 million people eligible for this vaccination. And now is the time to prepare for the 2025 vaccination campaign. We will discuss it with the Minister of Health to find out how many doses we need to order for next year. Are we staying at 11 or 12 million doses or are we moving up a gear? Every year, it’s the same subject.

Exactly, is this way of proceeding still relevant? ? Place orders based on pharmacists’ estimates ?

She can improve. Every year, we only have two problems: either we lack doses, or it’s a waste. It’s complicated to just fall into vaccination campaigns. In February, the World Health Organization tells manufacturers how many doses they should put in the vaccine. They make it in the spring and he delivers this to us. It delivers to us in the fall and we cannot redo doses immediately. It’s complex to organize.