Make way for specialists: the French leader in the Doctolib sector announces in a press release its selection “as official partner of the State for making appointments online and managing vaccination centers”.

A key role one week before the opening, on January 18, of the vaccination to all people over 75 years old, with an appointment promised by the government from January 14 via the site of public information sante.fr.

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Meetings already possible

Ahead of this calendar, Doctolib affirms that “priority patients can already make an appointment” and claims “150 vaccination centers” equipped with its software “throughout France”.

Its competitor Maiia, a subsidiary of the medical informatics group Cegedim, assures that registrations will be possible “from this Wednesday January 13” for a vaccination from Monday 18, for “patients over 75 years old”, as well as “firefighters and nursing assistants over 50”.

The Keldoc platform, a subsidiary of the National Hospital Mutual Fund, also confirms that it has been “referenced” by the Ministry of Health and adds that it is already used in “a number of vaccination centers”.

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A controversial choice

After the announcement of the three platforms, it was not long before the critics were heard. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, head of France Insoumise, notably expressed his fears about the use of user data. The company responded on Twitter to the politician:

1️⃣ Hello @JLMelenchon, our users’ data are secure, used exclusively for making appointments and are the property of patients. Doctolib is a French company which employs 1600 people.

– Doctolib (@doctolib) January 12, 2021

Other netizens began to debate the issue from this point:

The question of securing personal data by a private body nevertheless arises.
All the more so in view of the security breach that there was at Doctolib in July 2020.

– Fred P (@fred_p) January 12, 2021

The appointment must be made online

According to Doctolib, “all the vaccination sites must be equipped (…) by January 13th evening and the State will bear the cost of this equipment”.

Maiia also indicates that from January 18, reservations “must go through online appointment booking”, via private platforms or the sante.fr site, “which should enable French people to find a vaccination”.