Last year was a bit of a disaster as so many more people decided to get the flu jab. I can’t remember the exact numbers but France had ordered a normal quantity, 20 million doses or something like that, and they were all used up very quickly. You could go and get them from 13th Oct last year and by the time we went about 10 days later they were all gone in all the pharmacies near us. Since it takes quite a while to make the vaccine, we didn’t finally get ours until the new year… But didn’t matter as there was no flu to speak of!!
I image this year will be the opposite and they’ll be huge stockpiles of it!
We were fortunate I guess in the UK as we got ours at the normal time. It was done on a drive through basis and they got thousands done each day over a couple of weekends. Clever idea.
I think we may need it this year. Mine is booked for 16 October on the same drive through basis.
Hope you all get yours on time too.
Izxy x
Not sure they’ve made any final decision as yet… (UK) they were supposed to update during the summer…
Certainly, France is now firmly advising the 2-week gap.
EDIT: Reading the Gov UK bumpf from July 2021… I’m wondering if the Medical folk issuing jabs… will be able to administer whichever 1 of the 2 vaccines is required by each person… be it Flu or 3rd-covid… (but they’re not saying they’ll give both jabs at the same time… not that I can see, anyway)
I find it is easier to go into my local pharmacie and simply ask if they have programed a date for vaccination. And to add my name to that date.
Since I live in boonies, the pharmacie is so small that they are keen to “program” the vaccination and they typically phone to confirm the date and hour. So, no waiting in longgggg lines at a basketball-court for a vacc!
And don’t expect that letter in the mail. If you have French medical-care, then you are on a NHS(CMU*) database. And - from what I gather - that is where they will be sending in documentation/permission needed for a “shot”. So, to get the vax, you need to show your CMU-card. (Presuming you have one.)
They may also want to send you a pixel-diagram so as to read your account from off a smartphone. (Which I personally refuse to do.)
*Couverture Maladie Universelle
Well, there might be time-wasted if you think you can just walk in and get a shot. The ones I’ve seen (here in the Gers) program the vax and you are expected to show up on the appointed day-and hour. (And the person doing the inoculation is NOT the pharmacien but a nurse!)
It’s certainly different here in Basse Normandie. Being over 65, I have had a letter each year with tear-off bits at the bottom for me to go and get the vaccine from a pharmacie and then get it administered wherever I want, either at the pharmacie or at the surgery. When I had it at the pharmacie it was administered by the pharmacien.
My appointment is for the flu vaccine only. No mention of a 3rd Covid jab as yet. I think the latest is that very few people will be getting a 3rd jab but no firm decision made as yet.
Izzy x
Yes, it has been announced. It will be first for those in nursing-homes and that will start on 12/13 September - according to the present French-PM yesterday.
Which will take a good week to start&finish. So, maybe we-the-sheeple will have it available some date thereafter …
So very true… It’s certainly different where I live…
Flu jabs used to be given only by our Doc…
OH was entitled to freebies (received his piece of paper/invitation) but I always paid for mine…
collected le stuff from the pharmacy and kept the packets chilled until our appointment with the main man…
then we found out we could take le stuff to our local Maison Medicale and an Infirmier would do the deed.
Due to rising numbers asking for flu jabs, pharmacists were then enrolled into the jabbing system…
So now, we can take our pick. yippee…
Incidentally, one recent visit to the pharmacy was curtailed while the pharmacist went outside to administer a covid vaccination… no probs we were only nattering.
That particular pharmacy was playing an important role in getting as many vaccinated as possible and had a special reception area etc etc (all properly set up)… in the garden alongside their building…
I know I can just walk in and get a shot - I get my voucher for my vaccination from my mutuelle (the MGEN) in the post, don’t make an appointment, drop in at the chemist’s with it on my way back from work, if they have it in stock the pharmacienne (she is a docteur en pharmacie) injects it. I swipe my carte vitale so the MGEN knows it has been done.
If they haven’t got it either they get some sent from the pharmacie up the road or I come back another day.
This is in Dordogne. Maybe it is different for foreigners or if you’re under a different régime for your couverture sociale.
This is how it has worked for me for the past 12-15 years.
Be careful!
We left it late last year and had great difficulty finding somewhere that hadn’t run out of the vaccination. Had to drive 30 kms eventually.
Last year was very unusual as Covid sparked an unprecedented demand for the vaccine. I did get somewhat annoyed with the pharmacy as they sold too many vaccines to people who just rolled up (perfectly possible and correct of course) but didn’t keep any in reserve for their normal high risk clients who might have actually needed it. I had to wait for stocks to be replenished in December.
As it happened no harm done as there was no flu at all round here.
The drift of some messages (on the Net) goes like this: The older you are, the more you need it.
If you can read French, here is a Web-site that describes the process to put in place for the 3rd vax: Sortir à Paris
The description of the options is well done. Here’s my reduced version of it:
*The vax is available for those 65 or older
*Persons resident in “Ehpads” (retirement homes) are first in line for a shot.
*For others, on the 1st of September vaccination will be possible in a pharmacy, from your family-doctor (if you have one), or from a programmed Vaccination Center. (Which you might find by asking at your City Hall.)
*The exact vax formula will be a Pfizer or Moderna or the same as last time from wherever you obtained it.
*If you would like also an anti-grip (grippe in French) shot, it too should be available as well.
If in retirement, it is really quite important to know well where the best pharmacy is for you. This is one country where they really know what they are doing and how to do it.
What is intriguing with all these well set out options is that for the last few weeks you have been able to go onto doctolib and book a third dose (Moderna or Pfizer - aux choix) quite easily. Slots are of course now well filled, but friends have booked appointments from this week.
Personally I’m waiting for another few months. I have antibodies and I don’t live a high risk life, so there are many others who are more of a priority than I am.
