Phase 1 of the vaccination strategy: more than 1 million people covered

The launch of the first phase of vaccination on Sunday, December 27, focused (in accordance with recommendations from the French National Authority for Health (HAS)) on facilities caring for the elderly. The effort will ramp up throughout the month of January. With this in mind, Santé publique France has placed orders for several million doses of vaccine. To meet the very specific storage requirements for the first vaccines (-80°C), over a hundred freezers have been ordered and are being delivered to Santé publique France’s distribution centers and key healthcare facilities.

For 75% of facilities caring for the elderly, vaccine delivery to their designated pharmacies is handled by Santé publique France’s service provider depots and their transporters, under the responsibility of Santé publique France. For 25% of facilities (nursing homes and long-term care facilities), deliveries will be handled by 100 designated “hub” healthcare facilities, which routinely supply these nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
Prior to the vaccine’s arrival, the sterile medical devices needed for reconstitution and administration of the vaccines have been ordered and are being delivered to the relevant pharmacies. Community pharmacies and hospitals will be responsible for distributing the doses and supplies directly to nursing homes and long-term care facilities.

The delivery schedule is based on estimates of the number of people to be vaccinated per department, information collected by the Regional Health Agencies and forwarded to Santé publique France. Deliveries spaced 21 days apart are scheduled for each facility to accommodate the two-dose regimen. During this first phase of the vaccination strategy and thanks to this system, vaccination will be offered to more than one million people across nearly 10,000 facilities (EHPADs and USLDs).

“The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has very specific characteristics, notably a shelf life of up to 6 months at –80°C, stability for 5 days at 5°C—including a 12-hour transport window—and stability for 6 hours after dilution. Receiving and removing doses from storage at –80°C must be done while wearing protective gloves. Vaccination requires the administration of two doses per person, spaced 21 days apart. These parameters present a major logistical challenge in delivering the doses as close as possible to the people who have chosen to be vaccinated. “This unprecedented logistics network, co-developed with numerous stakeholders, relies on robust regional hubs staffed by trained teams,” said Dr. Christine Debeuret, Head Pharmacist of the pharmaceutical facility.

Development of indicators to monitor the vaccination campaign

To track the progress of the vaccination campaign, the Agency is evolving its surveillance systems. Teams at Santé publique France are currently preparing to produce vaccination coverage monitoring indicators to identify the percentage of targeted individuals who have been vaccinated. These new indicators will enable highly detailed monitoring and will be released to the public on a very regular basis.

The surveillance system put in place will also be able to assess vaccine efficacy in near real time, for example by providing the proportion of people who became infected after being vaccinated.

At the same time, vaccination uptake is also being monitored, as it is critical to the effectiveness of the vaccination program. Vaccination intentions, determinants, and healthcare professionals’ adherence are being studied and regularly measured. These results are shared through regular publications.