With the imminent arrival of the end of year celebrations and omicron which is spreading in France, the number of tests has exploded in recent days. But pharmacists lack the resources to carry them out and fear a shortage of stocks of antigens.
“Yes, hello, this is the pharmacy. Bad news, you are positive. ” For the past two weeks, Sylvie Baruc’s pharmacy, in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, has been at the forefront of the epidemic resumption. The positive cases are more and more numerous: four for the only morning of Monday. And while about twenty tests were carried out daily in November, there are now about fifty.
In the dispensary, the length of the queue for antigenic tests is almost reminiscent of the first waves, a time when no vaccine was authorized on the market. Screening was then, along with barrier gestures, the only real weapon against the virus, making it possible to trace and isolate. Today, 52 million French people have, according to the Directorate General of Health, received two doses of vaccine and almost 20 million have even had three. Except that the hyper transmissibility of omicron, while the fifth wave of the delta variant has not finished breaking, requires you to be extra careful.
Before reuniting with their elders for the holiday season, many people want to check their status. 600,000 antigenic tests are performed every day in the country’s 14,000 pharmacies. Daily sales of self-tests would also reach the 200,000 mark, according to figures compiled by Philippe Besset, president of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France.
Fear of contaminating
Julien, 27, vaccinated two doses, comes to be tested for the first time because he “Exhibits symptoms”. Cough, fever, the classic combo. “In any case, I had to take a test before Christmas for the parents”, he explains as he leaves. Given his pale complexion, it’s hard to imagine feasting with his family. For Marina, who awaited the results directly on the spot, the verdict is final: she will spend Christmas Eve cloistered in her Parisian apartment, alone or with her boyfriend. “It will depend on whether he too is positive, I don’t want to impose that on him”, she declares, annoyed.
Others find themselves doing tests because of the new border rules, like Francesca, 43, who will fly away “For Italy, Tuesday”. To taste the Pandoro traditional Christmas, he must present an antigen test of less than twenty-four hours to customs. And this, even if she is triple vaccinated. Some clients even come to be tested of their own free will, for fear of infecting their loved ones at family tables. “The best thing to do is a PCR test forty-eight hours before the meal”, either Wednesday for Friday’s New Year’s Eve, advises Tristan, in this dispensary where only antigens are offered.
1.2 billion euros for health insurance
Tristan was recently hired to meet the exponential demand for testing. “We needed help, we weren’t doing it anymore, Sylvie says. Only me in the pharmacy has training. ” Another subject worries him: the state of stocks. He still has “Only 10 boxes of 25 tests to last the week”. The pharmacist, however, ordered 50 boxes two weeks ago. “I haven’t heard from the lab. I tried to contact others, but also without response. “
Proof that the market is overheating, Biosynex, the French leader in antigenic tests and self-tests, recorded in December a demand six times higher than in November. “We have recruited 200 temporary workers and our production is now carried out 24 hours a day”, says Oren Bitton, the company’s commercial director. Pharmacies, which until now were delivered in 72 hours, now have to wait eight to ten days. This rush on tests will have repercussions on the health insurance accounts: in 2021, the reimbursement of antigenic tests should cost 1.2 billion euros.
Exhausted by two years of pandemic, Sylvie also refuses to sell self-tests to customers. “It’s time consuming, it takes time. You have to explain to them and sometimes supervise them, whereas the principle of the self-test is to do it at home. I don’t have time to stay a quarter of an hour longer with someone ”, annoys the manager, who vaccinates as much as she tests. As for the opening of her dispensary on Sunday, encouraged by Olivier Véran, she also said no. “We are paid five euros more per injection, but that’s not what will convince us: we are very tired, the pharmacy is overworked.”