Gilles Bonnefond, president of the Union of dispensary pharmacists unions, tells franceinfo that “80% of pharmacies have offered this service” this winter.
With more than 10.6 million doses sold over the October-December period, the number of influenza vaccinations is clearly increasing this winter in France. This is 600,000 more than last year at the same time and 1.3 million more than two years ago, figures released by the Pharmastat network, a large network of pharmacies.
This increase is notably due to the development of vaccination in pharmacies. “80% of pharmacies have offered this service “, explains Wednesday February 5 on Franceinfo Gilles Bonnefond, president of the Union of pharmacist unions.
franceinfo: Have there been many vaccines in pharmacies?
Gilles Bonnefond: It worked well since 80% of pharmacies offered this service. It was the first year that we extended to all regions. The patient journey has been simplified. When he is available, he can come to the pharmacy to take his vaccine, be vaccinated within 5 minutes and leave quietly. This is done without an appointment. This is in addition to what doctors and nurses do.
Pharmacists can only vaccinate people over 65 and pregnant women. Do you want us to go further?
When you vaccinate at the pharmacy you improve immunization coverage, 7.7% more patients vaccinated is enormous. On the other hand, in the population which does not have the right to be vaccinated in pharmacies, we lost 3.8% of vaccinations. Many patients wanted to be vaccinated, but as they did not have the health insurance bill, we were forced to refuse to vaccinate them. If we want to restore the vaccination reflex to the entire population, we must allow these patients to be vaccinated. This will give them the habit when they are old.
Is the flu dangerous?
The flu is still 7000 patients who die every year because of this virus that has been trivialized. The flu is serious. When you can’t recover because you are fragile, you can die from the flu. It is twice as much as death on the road when we have a vaccine which is free, available, which can be injected quickly.
Is it still time to get vaccinated?
The epidemic has been delayed. The vaccination period has been extended to February 29. There is still time to get the flu shot which will arrive later this year.
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