Each year, the graduating class of the IDEA epidemiology course taught at EHESP conducts a public health survey. The most recent survey, published in March 2026, focuses on vaccination coverage and the use of vaccination centers during the resurgence of invasive meningococcal B infections in Rennes in late 2024 and early 2025. Led by Pascal Crépey, a professor at EHESP, in collaboration with Santé publique France and in conjunction with the ARS Bretagne, the initial results demonstrated both relatively high vaccination coverage among students who were exposed to the prevention campaign and widespread use of the vaccination centers set up during that period.

This field survey, conducted by 22 IDEA students and their supervisors, is based on an anonymous questionnaire administered in person to 984 students on the Villejean campus—across all institutions—aged 18 to 26. As a reminder, the vaccination campaign launched in 2025 targeted the 15- to 25-year-old population of the Rennes metropolitan area, or nearly 100,000 people. Analysis of the results highlights a notable difference based on the respondents’ geographic location at the time of the campaign. Among students present in Rennes in 2025, 67% reported being vaccinated. In comparison, this rate drops to 25% among students who were not residing in the Rennes area during that period. Although the decision to get vaccinated depends on a multitude of individual and social factors, this significant gap suggests that the vaccination campaign may have served as a major incentive for the student population.

Finally, the study examined some of the determinants of health, specifically socioeconomic factors. The study did not find that financial insecurity had a negative impact on vaccination uptake. The vaccination centers established were, in fact, able to mitigate certain inequalities in access linked to students’ socioeconomic status. Indeed, while 45% of vaccinations took place in dedicated centers, compared to 44% in pharmacies and 11% in private practices, this proportion rose to 56% among students in precarious financial situations.

For more information on meningococcal vaccination: Vaccination Info Service_Meningococcal.