Letters: Vaccination campaigns are not straightforward in rural France
Connexion reader says that local GP needed to convince enough patients before setting a date
Reader says that vaccination campaigns have lower take-up in rural areas due to superstitious locals
Viacheslav Lopatin / Shutterstock
To the Editor,
When you first mentioned the new national campaign for the over-80s and 'vulnerable', I asked my GP's secretary if I needed a prescription for one.
I am not yet 80 but have several long-term conditions. She had heard nothing about the campaign.
So, I went to see the nurses' secretary, who had also heard nothing about the campaign. When I explained, she said that she knew my medical history and that I would be eligible without a prescription.
However, she said she could only vaccinate me if she could find some other people who wanted to be vaccinated too, as she had to use the whole lot up in one go.
Read more: Check to see you are up to date with vaccinations in France
It is very hard to find people who want to be vaccinated here in the countryside, as they are very superstitious.
Eventually she found enough people and proposed a date. She then rang, the day before, to say the vaccine hadn't arrived, so could we postpone it. What else could I do?
I now believe I will receive the vaccination in four days' time, but will ring in advance to check.
I wonder how common this problem is.
Bob Street, Haute-Garonne
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