COVID-19 Vaccination: What Role Does Santé publique France Play?
In France, COVID-19 led to more than 245,000 hospitalizations and more than 62,000 deaths between late January and December 26, 2020. Those most severely affected are people over 65 and those who are obese or compromised by certain chronic conditions. Beyond preventive measures, the ability to prevent severe illness and death from the virus relies on treatments and vaccines. The first phase of vaccination began on Sunday, December 27.
Vaccination Information Service
What are vaccines for? How do they work? At what age should children be vaccinated? Vaccination-info-service.fr answers the most frequently asked questions about vaccination ...
More than 1 million people affected
The first phase of vaccination began on Sunday, December 27, with a planned ramp-up during the first quarter of 2021. In accordance with the recommendations of the High Authority for Health (HAS), to which Santé publique France contributed, this phase targets elderly residents of nursing homes (EHPAD) and long-term care units (USLD), as well as healthcare professionals working in these facilities—particularly those at increased risk of severe illness or death (those over 65 and/or with comorbidities).
Vaccine Procurement and Distribution: The Key Role of Santé publique France
At the request of the Minister of Health, Santé publique France is responsible for the procurement, importation, storage, transport, and distribution of products necessary to protect the population against serious health threats.
Thus, as part of the COVID-19 vaccination effort, Santé publique France purchases on behalf of France the vaccines pre-reserved by the European Commission from pharmaceutical companies.
Santé publique France operates a pharmaceutical facility under the supervision of a responsible pharmacist. As part of the COVID-19 vaccination effort, the agency is one of the government’s main logistics operators. In collaboration with the Ministry of Health and its partners, it oversees the operational management of the logistics chains (receipt, storage, and distribution of acquired vaccine doses) under its purview.
Regarding the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for facilities caring for the elderly, two delivery channels have been established:
a "Flow A" departing from Santé publique France’s storage facilities (equipped with -80°C storage capacity) and directly supplying 75% of the designated pharmacies serving facilities for the elderly,
a Stream B that passes through 100 so-called “hub” healthcare facilities, which supply the nursing homes and long-term care facilities they usually serve (25% of deliveries).
Santé publique France also handles the procurement and distribution to facilities in flow B of the materials needed to reconstitute vials and administer the vaccine (needles, syringes, solvent) as well as the -80°C freezers required to store the first vaccines.
Santé publique France, a key player in measuring the impact on health indicators
Santé publique France conducts evaluations of France’s vaccination policy, such as monitoring vaccination coverage and the impact of vaccination on the dynamics of the diseases targeted by vaccination. In addition to monitoring vaccine-preventable diseases, it also produces data on perceptions and practices regarding vaccination, as well as on public uptake.
The teams at Santé publique France will develop indicators to track vaccination coverage in order to identify the percentage of the target population that has been vaccinated. The surveillance system will also measure vaccine effectiveness by estimating the proportion of people who contract COVID-19 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. These indicators will be made public.
Why measure vaccination coverage?
Vaccination coverage refers to the proportion of vaccinated individuals within the target population at a given time. Vaccination coverage is one of the indicators used to monitor and evaluate the impact of a vaccination program, alongside incidence and mortality data and sero-epidemiological data. Vaccination coverage data are therefore useful for determining whether a vaccination program is being properly implemented. They are essential because maintaining high vaccination coverage is a key element in controlling infectious diseases, enabling the protection of a population against a given disease.
Why and how should vaccine effectiveness be monitored?
When a vaccine is released onto the market and incorporated into large-scale vaccination programs, it is useful to verify its protective efficacy under real-world conditions of use. This evaluation is based on epidemiological surveys and involves comparing the incidence of the disease among vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals exposed to the same risk of infection, and estimating the degree of reduction in disease incidence among vaccinated individuals. Thus, various methodologies can be considered. These rely on analytical epidemiology techniques in which Santé publique France has expertise.
Numerous partners are involved in implementing the monitoring of vaccination policy. In particular, the ANSM, which monitors the safety of vaccine use.
How is the impact of vaccination monitored?
In the longer term, the epidemiological impact of the vaccination program will be assessed by comparing disease incidence before and after vaccination implementation (or between two comparable populations, one vaccinated and the other unvaccinated). This assessment will rely primarily on data from epidemiological surveillance. In the case of COVID-19, this assessment will be complex, due to the difficult-to-predict dynamics of transmission and the difficulty of distinguishing the impact of vaccination from that of other measures to limit viral transmission that will be implemented.
Vaccination-info-service.fr , a reference website
As part of its information-sharing mission, Santé publique France provides reference information in the form of resources and tools for everyone, whether individuals or professionals. Among these, the “vaccination info service” website allows anyone to access comprehensive information on vaccination at different stages of life, with sections focused on specific diseases and links to reliable content.
A new section dedicated to COVID-19 vaccines is now available, featuring information on their characteristics, indications, and key recommendations from health authorities, as well as links to approval criteria, vaccination strategies, and more.
Vaccination: The Expertise of Santé publique France
Contribution to the development and adaptation of vaccination strategies
Vaccine supply (from procurement to distribution)
Monitoring of vaccination coverage and the herd immunity of vaccination
Assessment of the impact of the vaccination strategy on the COVID-19 epidemic
Generating knowledge on public and healthcare professional acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination
Providing information on vaccination, notably through the website vaccination-info-service.fr and the publication of indicators
To learn more about vaccination:
Vaccination
thematic dossier
Contagious diseases most often affect children at a very young age. Because children are particularly vulnerable, they are a priority target for vaccination programs.
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