Asked whether pharmacies had enough self-tests to tackle the start of the school year, the president of the national order of pharmacists, Carine Wolf-Thal, answered bluntly, Monday January 3: “It’s going to be very complicated. “ And it was. The implementation of the new protocol for monitoring contact cases at school put pharmacies under pressure all week, and families under pressure.
Since Monday, as soon as a primary school student contracts Covid-19, all his classmates must be tested three times in five days, including two times with self-tests supported by Medicare and distributed in pharmacies . The same rule applies to contact cases over 12 years of age if they are vaccinated. With the runaway number of contaminations in France, this test protocol, which also applies to vaccinated adults, has “Explode demand”, notes Pierre-Olivier Variot, president of the Union of Unions of Community Pharmacists (USPO). For the screening of children, it describes a rhythm “Infernal” since the start of the January school year.
According to Philippe Besset, president of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France (FSPF), professionals were taken aback by the announcement, the day before the resumption of classes, of the school protocol. The instruction to test an entire class for each positive case had not been anticipated, nor was the resulting massive distribution of self-tests.
Stock tensions
For families, getting the two free self-tests, the real hub of the system, has often been a game of patience. “The situation is not the same in all territories, some have not had a problem, but many others have been hunting tests all week, especially in urban areas”, reports Laurent Zameczkowski, administrator of the federation of parents of pupils PEEP.
Stress on stocks was felt. In addition to the record demand and replenishment times, Pierre-Olivier Variot, from the USPO, points to a “Looting of stocks” by mass distribution, exceptionally authorized to sell self-tests since December 28.
According to estimates by the FSPF, French pharmacies however had 3 million self-tests on Monday, and 6 million on Friday, January 7. “Sufficient to meet needs”, according to Philippe Besset, but unevenly distributed. About 40% of pharmacies were out of stock at the start of the week, and as many on Friday.
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