REPORTAGE
From Monday, vaccination against Covid-19 will open to people over 75 and to people with high-risk pathologies. Since Thursday, however, it is possible to make an appointment in advance to be vaccinated. Problem: the telephone platforms set up by the regional health agencies are overloaded. Firefighters are therefore forced to get their hands dirty. This is the case at the Villeneuve d’Ascq call processing center, in the Lille metropolitan area.
More complex without internet
The phone keeps ringing in this call center. In search of niches, around twenty firefighters, professionals and volunteers as well as administrative agents, all have their eyes riveted on their computer screens and on the Doctolib medical appointment site. At the same time, Manuel makes an appointment for a retired couple, who do not have internet access, which makes it difficult to make an appointment.
The man on the phone requests two vaccinations “one for my wife and one for myself,” he says. “It will certainly be the Le Bois center”, a private hospital located in Lille, Manuel replied. “We are far away. We are in Villeneuve d’Ascq”, complains this pensioner, aged 82. “Sir, we are sorry, but in Villeneuve d’Ascq, there is more time,” explains Manuel.
600 calls in almost three hours
Unsuccessful of his request, the retiree then deplores a difficult communication. “Since a while ago, I called this number and when I dial 2, I can’t hear anything at all and I’m cut off,” he laments. The number of calls is, in fact, so high that the telephone lines are saturated. In just three hours, this center in Villeneuve d’Ascq received around 600 calls.
After a while, Manuel finally has good news. “Your appointment for the first injection is scheduled for Monday, January 25 at 9.50 am,” he says to the retiree, who ends up accepting this proposal. It is not always easy to find an available date. “As soon as we can confirm an appointment, we are happy,” says Manuel. In some vaccination centers, the slots for the months of January and February are already well filled. So few are those who manage to get an appointment.
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