It is up to the attending physician to identify the priority people in his patient base.

” It was relatively easy to select because I took people who had comorbidities, gave the secretary a list of 25 names, she called the first 11 and there was absolutely no refusal. », Explains Dr Jean-Paul Hamon, general practitioner, honorary president of the Federation of Doctors of France.

Not enough doses

The AstraZeneca vaccine is given. But there aren’t enough doses to satisfy all eligible patients. Each volunteer doctor has only one vial, enough to vaccinate only 10 people, within 6 hours.

This vaccine sometimes has bad press because of the side effects, but the doctor wants to reassure his patients.

” AstraZeneca is now known to be 60% effective at the first dose, and thanks to the Scottish study, it is known to be over 90% effective after the second dose. The side effects do not resist to taking paracetamol morning, noon and evening for one or two days, so frankly it is not difficult to convince patients that we know and who trust us », Explains Dr Jean-Paul Hamon.

Each patient will return in 9 to 12 weeks for the second dose. In total, 29,000 general practitioners have decided to vaccinate in their practice. They should be able to get 3 vials each next week.