Covid vaccine: the strategies of other Europeans



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CORONAVIRUS – Perhaps Emmanuel Macron will talk about it this Tuesday evening, November 24, as part of his speech on the reduction of imprisonment? In any case in Europe, as more and more encouraging results are reported regarding covid-19 vaccines, our neighbors are refining their plans.

As you can see in the map below, and read it in more detail in our article, from Germany to Spain via Italy, the other large European countries have already communicated, therefore more or less precise, about their vaccination strategy.

Thus, the Germans are already preparing to open places that will be able to welcome the priority public in the minute (or almost) in which the first doses are available, when Italy will have to face a large-scale anti-vaccine movement and that the British are designing a very large system from the start …

In Europe, Germany is the most advanced country for the future vaccination campaign against the coronavirus. In fact, our neighbor has been active for several weeks: for example, millions of syringes and needles have been stored and places, sometimes unusual, will be used to welcome the public. For example, airports (such as Tegel, the recently closed Berlin airport) and exhibition centers will be mobilized.

Thus, starting from December, about sixty places (the list of which also includes stadiums, skating rinks, military barracks, conference centers, etc.) will be “on standby”, ready to react immediately when vaccines are available . .

Potentially, it could even be before the end of the year. As a priority, according to the recommendations made by the local ethics committee, vulnerable people such as the elderly, health personnel and public employees necessary for the proper functioning of society (teachers, police officers, etc.) will benefit as a priority.

German peculiarities, these are the countries (i.e. the 16 regions) responsible for implementing the vaccination plan. And it is above all through them that the refrigerators – necessary for example to store the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine at -70 ° C – have been mobilized in the German army barracks.

When the signal for vaccination is given and the first doses become available, medical students and retired health professionals are also expected to help the health system ensure the speed of the campaign. .

Unlike other countries discussed below, the accuracy of this plan is already attractive to the population, who approve it by an overwhelming majority, according to several polls.

  • Spain (43,000 deaths, 1.6 million cases reported)

After the announcement of the German plan, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez proclaimed it loud and clear: Spain is the other European country to have such a well-developed strategy. In subsequent speeches between Friday 20 and Tuesday 24 November, the Spanish authorities have drawn the contours, making sure to work there since September and preparing to vaccinate “a substantial part” of the 47 million inhabitants of the country. by mid-2021.

This plan takes up the broad lines of a mass flu vaccination device that has already been tested this fall 2020, allowing 14 million Spaniards to receive the vaccine in two months, a sharp increase (+ 40%) in compared to the previous year.

Faced with covid-19, a total of 13,000 vaccination points across the country will be opened and additional health professionals will be recruited to strengthen the health system. An order for 31.5 million doses has been issued through the European Union and a special committee is currently defining priority targets for vaccination. If vaccination is not mandatory, Spain aims to immunize the majority of its population at the earliest in May and at the worst in July.

“Our healthcare system is capable of vaccinating in a short time, is frankly excellent and we are therefore optimistic that we will achieve these ambitious goals,” Pedro Sanchez said on November 20. “We still have difficult months ahead of us, but the course has been set,” he said.

  • United Kingdom (over 55,000 deaths and 1.5 million known cases)

The UK is one of the countries that has deployed the most financial means to obtain vaccines. In total, some 350 million doses have been ordered (a significant portion of which is the future Oxford vaccine) for a UK population of 67 million.

Boris Johnson’s stated goal is for the “vast majority” of vulnerable people to be vaccinated by Easter. Most importantly, unlike other countries that primarily target immunity for vulnerable people, the National Health Service (which leaked to the local press) plans to vaccinate all adults who want it by April. The United Kingdom plans a rapid vaccination of the most vulnerable in this direction, which must be completed by the end of February.

In detail, a very precise calendar of the dates in which age groups will be entitled to request vaccination has been unveiled to the press. Second Newspaper of the health service, which revealed the government’s plan, it is therefore expected that children between the ages of 18 and 50 can apply to be vaccinated in late January. To do this it will be necessary, for those who wish, to make an appointment in a center near home.

The idea is to make sufficient vaccine doses available to spread vaccination and make it very quickly accessible to all adults. Note that for some vaccines (Moderna and Oxford), Brits will need to be given two different doses, 28 days apart.

This plan will run across the UK, with Wales and Scotland having the same process and deadlines as England. In Scotland, for example, one million of the 4.4 people who could theoretically require the vaccine are expected to have had it by the end of January.

  • Italy (over 50,000 deaths, for about 1.4 million cases detected)

In Italy, an “unprecedented campaign, to quote the local Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza,” will take place towards the end of January, when we hope to have the first doses destined for the most exposed categories “. This “vaccination campaign (…) will require an extraordinary mobilization of all forces present,” he said.

However, one of the difficulties that Italy will encounter when deploying its strategy is the presence of a very strong anti-vaccination movement in the country. On Friday 20 November, the Scientific Technical Committee, a public body in charge of advising the Government in its policy to combat the pandemic, for example, had to remember that “the presence of the Italian Medicines Agency and international regulatory bodies gives us guarantees on the safety of vaccines “. An update that came after a renowned virologist, Andrea Crisanti, very present in the media, said: “Normally it takes five to eight years to produce a vaccine and then the one in January, I don’t. I will not do that “.

In the country, only a third of respondents in mid-November said they would get vaccinated as soon as possible, while a large majority of respondents said they would reject the vaccine if it were made available as early as 2021.

  • Austria (less than 2,600 deaths, about 250,000 cases)

In Austria, the authorities hope to be able to start the vaccination campaign in January, with health professionals and nursing home staff as priority beneficiaries, as well as people at risk and residents in nursing homes. 65 years old.

Ultimately, the country intends to vaccinate half of its population and is mobilizing huge funds for this purpose (around 200 million euros). The second phase of the vaccination, which will therefore affect the rest of the Austrians, should start in April, according to the government’s forecasts.

The authorities intend to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed by protecting the populations most at risk and those who work there first. “By vaccinating health workers, we preserve the system and protect people who are particularly exposed at a professional level”, explained Professor Beate Jahn on Tuesday 24 November, presenting this Austrian strategy.

Austria, which is currently experiencing even stricter isolation than France as schools are closed, is also planning to launch a major population screening plan from early December.

See also on the HuffPost: Vaccines against Covid-19 effective at 90%, what it means … and above all not to say it

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