Can the cold chain be respected in pharmacies? After the announcement, made Monday, by the Ministry of Health of the launch of an experiment in vaccination against monkey pox in five pharmacies in the territory, the decree was promulgated at Official newspaperTuesday, August 9.
These five pharmacies, located in Ile-de-France, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Hauts-de-France, have been selected by the regional health authorities. Vaccination will begin there on Wednesday for an experiment that will last two weeks.
The ministry estimates that this experiment will make it possible to test the “organizational models between the pharmacies and the hospitals that receive the doses”in order to decide whether or not it is appropriate to extend the vaccination campaign to other pharmacies.
As of August 4, 153 vaccination centers had been opened throughout France and 20,322 people had been vaccinated.
Evaluate if there is no “loss of doses”
The vaccine used for vaccination against monkeypox must absolutely be kept at very low temperature (−80 degrees) and “can only be kept for fifteen days” when it has been thawed, explains the ministry.
The vaccines, although single doses, are packaged in boxes of twenty doses. “It will therefore be a question of evaluating whether there is no loss of doses”, says the ministry. He recalls that, unlike the vaccination campaign against Covid-19, pharmacies will only be able to target a limited audience.
The target audience includes men who have sex with people of the same sex who report having multiple sexual partners, trans people who also report having multiple sexual partners, as well as sex workers and professionals working in places of consumption. sexual.
In response to criticism from LGBT associations and left-wing elected officials about the slowness of the vaccination campaign, the Minister of Health, François Braun, said last week that he was working on the launch of this experiment.
The large Paris vaccination center has recalled vaccinated people
On Monday, the largest monkeypox vaccination center in Paris recalled nearly 500 people vaccinated within it between August 2 and 4 to vaccinate them again, “due to a break in the cold chain”.
“This does not pose any health risk for the people concerned, but a new first injection is necessary to be effectively protected against the virus. [monkeypox] »writes the Paris City Hall in a message published on his website.
“There was a faulty refrigerator” and the optimal temperature for storing vaccines was not respected, she explains. The failure was discovered on Thursday morning and led to the immediate closure of the center.
“We checked that there was no toxicity. ANSM [Agence nationale de sécurité du médicament et des produits de santé] came and assured us that there was no risk”said Anne Souyris, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of public health.
Those called back are offered a new appointment and “have priority over all open slots”at the Edison center or in the free information, screening and diagnostic centers, she also underlined.
After its temporary closure, the centre, located in 13e district of the capital and opened since July 26, reopens its doors on Tuesday.