“We are drowning in calls”: in Brittany, pharmacies lack flu vaccines

This discouraging information worries part of the population who, for several days, have been seeking to be vaccinated. “The campaign logically ends on January 31. But we are drowning in phone calls, testifies this pharmacist from Vannes. As we do not have a product, we cannot schedule an appointment. Fortunately we are stocked with paracetamol, ibuprofen or aspirin, medications prescribed to treat the flu. »

Eleven million people have received a dose

Same observation in Saint-Pol-de-Léon (29) or Morlaix (29), where another professional says “navigate by sight” in the face of this rupture. In another pharmacy, in Saint-Brieuc, they hope to be delivered soon: “We ordered other vaccines but we had no assurance of being delivered”.

The stock shortage is indisputable. But where does it come from? Philippe Besset, president of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France (FSPF), explains, on France Info, that the current vaccination campaign is quite sustained. According to him, eleven million people have received a dose out of the 20 million eligible, which is “much more than last year”.

Five major groups at the top of the pyramid

Why is the industry struggling to fill pharmacy cold rooms? We tried to contact pharmaceutical distributors located in Brittany. In vain. Logically, they are the ones who control all the logistics, as intermediaries between the laboratories producing molecules and the 1,200 pharmacies located in 529 Breton municipalities.

To find out the reasons for this shortage, we must go higher, to the top of the pyramid, that is to say the producers themselves. Five large pharmaceutical groups share this market, including the most powerful Sanofi which, alone, produces 250 million flu vaccines per year, in its Trait unit, near Rouen (Seine-Maritime). More than a thousand people work on this ultra-modern production site, in which the group has invested 250 million euros in recent years.

A long and complex production process

Currently, no influenza vaccine leaves the production lines. Sanofi, through Nicolas Obrist, of the group’s press relations, explains: “The manufacturing of these vaccines is extremely complex. Those currently in use were produced during the winter of 2023-2024. They were delivered in the spring and summer.”

He specifies that this schedule is imposed on them: “The flu concerns mutant viruses which change from one year to the next. Upstream, thanks to prospective work carried out using data from last year and those from the southern hemisphere, the World Health Organization defines the nature of the vaccines that will be produced. From there, the work of the biological process begins, which cannot be accelerated. Cultivating the strains takes a long time.”

In this scenario, there is no question of restarting production in the event of a shortage. “It’s unthinkable,” continues Nicolas Obrist, who informs that Sanofi is already working on the next epidemic.

Sanofi puts 250,000 additional doses on the French market

At the other end of the chain, pharmacists must also look ahead. Generally, when ordering, they base themselves on the number of doses passed the previous year. When they receive their vials, they must store them in refrigerated cabinets with limited capacities. Which complicates things.

Another problem: vials not used during a campaign go directly into the trash, their biological composition being only valid for a vaccination campaign. A big shortfall for those who overestimated the number of doses likely to be administered.

As we can see, managing this stock is difficult. Aware of the current situation and the problems caused, Sanofi recently decided to “remobilize”, for France, 250,000 doses intended for abroad. “The wholesalers have seized it. We estimate that they have a more detailed knowledge of the most tense areas,” concludes Nicolas Obrist.