Hiccups during the vaccination of liberal health professionals in Bourges

The liberal health professionals of the Cher aged over 50 were able to start being vaccinated on Saturday. The city of Bourges has made a room at the Alfred-Depège stadium available for injections of the vaccine from the Pfizer-BioNTech laboratory. Volunteer nurses performed more than 70 injections. But several injections were not done according to the rules.

Doctor Louis * came to be vaccinated. After some administrative procedures, he enters the cubicle where he is received by Jeanne *, one of the volunteer nurses. “The longest time in this vaccination is to undress, she laughs, before giving the injection. She grasps the patient’s skin to make a fold, inserts the needle into it, and then squeezes the plunger. The syringe is then found parallel to the skin of Doctor Louis.

Crooked stitching

“Did you have an intramuscular injection?” Immediately after the injection, Doctor Louis shared his doubts with the nurse who had just vaccinated him. “I really went under the skin, I didn’t go any further”, she replies. Here is the problem. In their instructions for use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, l‘European Medicines Agency and the Ministry of Solidarity and Health specify that the injection must be done directly into the muscle. That’s what we call intramuscular injectionas opposed to injecting subcutaneously (under the skin) or intravenously (into a vein).

Doctor Dominique Engalenc is warned. He is one of the volunteer doctors who watches over the Bourges vaccination center. He hastens to correct the shot with the nurse: “The needle has to be perpendicular to the skin, as the needles are short. It has to be done in the muscle. If you prick this way, it will be subcutaneously. You must not pinch the needle. skin. And push in the 15 millimeters of the needle “, he lectures.

But the mistake is made. Unable to receive a new dose this afternoon. “Apparently it’s only one dose”, says Dr. Louis.

Unable to know how many patients have not been vaccinated according to the recommended procedure by the health authorities and the Pfizer-BioNTech laboratory during this first day in Bourges. At the beginning of the afternoon this Saturday, around sixty health professionals had already received their doses. The effects of a subcutaneous injection of the vaccine are not known. The Pfizer-BioNTech laboratory claims that its effectiveness is 95%, when injected correctly. That is, directly into the muscle.

* first names have been changed

–