Vaccinations: what our German and Spanish neighbors are planning

A campaign “fast and massive“, which will begin” dfrom the end of December to the beginning of January“for”the most fragile people“, on a voluntary basis. Emmanuel Macron presented a draft of the French vaccination strategy against Covid-19 on Tuesday evening. Like his foreign counterparts, the head of state faces a major challenge. The European Union has preordained, from 6 different laboratories, up to nearly two billion doses of the vaccine (15% for France), remain to be administered to its 447 million inhabitants.

For all countries, it is a question of being ready as soon as the marketing authorizations are granted. Two of our European neighbors, in particular, have already detailed their plan.

The vaccine is eagerly awaited in Germany, which has been hit hard by the second wave after handling the first quite well last spring. While polls in France indicate that only half of the population is ready to be vaccinated against Covid-19, the percentage rises to 70% across the Rhine, where even the youngest are widely available. This did not prevent the Minister of Health, Jens Spahn, two weeks ago, from ensuring that the criteria for selecting those who will benefit first from the vaccine would be “much debated“benefit from”broad acceptance“within the company (Emmanuel Macron, for his part, indicated Tuesday that a”collective of citizens“would be set”involve the population more widely“).

The German method, examined by François-Xavier Ménage in the TF1 report at the beginning of this article, is based on anticipation for months. The authorities, who wish to target “primarily those with the highest level of risk“, I want everything to be ready by December 15. But to achieve this, it is a huge logistical challenge.

In Berlin alone, six strategic locations have been chosen for future vaccinations. Among these, a huge convention center to the west of the capital, or even further north an ice rink that will turn into a gigantic laboratory. His manager promises the TF1 cameras a vaccination in two minutes flat, up to 2,500 injections per day. “Our German-American vaccine should be stored at minus 75 degrees. So it has to be thawed and then there is a whole complex process to be able to inject it. And this is impossible to do in a typical medical practice“, points out.

To preserve vaccines, the powerful German industry is already involved. Refrigerators able to go down to minus 80 degrees are in production – cost: 20.00 euros per unit. At glass specialist Schott, ampoule production is in full swing – this German reference in the medical sector produces millions of green ampoules into which the vaccine will soon be integrated for more than a month. And to transport them, cargo planes are already prerequisites. The German army is also mobilizing: 60 hangars will house the 300 million doses ordered by the country.

For its part, the Spanish government seeks to restore hope to its population, including Covid has killed more than 43,000 people, by announcing an ambitious strategy. The head of the Spanish government Pedro Sanchez thus said that his country would be “the first EU country with Germany to have a comprehensive vaccination plan.“

Unveiled on Tuesday, this plan aims to deliver the vaccine to half of the population by the summer of 2021, starting to administer it if possible as early as January, depending on the date of authorization for use. the vaccine market. “Our prediction is that, in all reasonable scenarios, a very large part of the Spanish population will be able to be vaccinated, with full guarantees, during the first half of next year.“said the head of the government.

The country, which recently authorized the start of the latest phase of a clinical trial of a vaccine developed by the American group Johnson & Johnson, will first vaccinate the elderly in nursing homes and the staff of these residences. “In the first phase we will focus on the most vulnerable people, a group of about 2.5 million people.“Health Minister Salvador Illa said Tuesday. The vaccine, which will also be done on a voluntary basis,”it will be free and will be administered through the national health system“, He added.

Among the other countries of the European Union, Austria, currently confined, in particular, has indicated that it wants to start its vaccination campaign also in January, starting from the staff of retirement homes and residents over 65 years old, people at risk and health workers, with the aim of vaccinating “at least 50%“of its population.