Since the start of the vaccination campaign for Covid-19, more than 51 million people have received at least one dose of the vaccine. It remains to try to convince the 6 million French people (a little less than 11% of the population in total) who have not yet crossed the doors of a center.
The figures show that depending on the region, the disparities are strong but they can also be played out at the scale of a city. In the Bouches-du-Rhône, for example, 28.5% are unvaccinated. In Marseille, in the northern districts, one in four inhabitant has received a dose of vaccine, compared to one in two in the southern districts considered to be more affluent.
In this portion, there are those who are resistant to the vaccine but also many people who, for various reasons – handicap, disease, isolation, digital divide – cannot go to vaccination centers or to their doctor. Hence the system put in place in November 2020 by the European Hospital of Marseille, which offers home vaccination in eight districts of the city (which has 16).
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A mobile team made up of a caregiver (doctor or nurse) and a mediator goes directly to the inhabitants. Often, these are elderly or isolated people as confirmed by Michèle Loubat, retired doctor: “These are people who are far from all the information we can have, the newspapers, the internet … and who neglect this whole vaccination program”.
Even when surrounded by relatives, these people cannot come to the vaccination centers. This is the case of this 96-year-old lady supported by her daughter who testifies: “My mother has early Alzheimer’s. She does not move, it has been three years since she left her home. We are in a neighborhood considered difficult “.
If the hospital hadn’t come to us, we wouldn’t have been able to go.
Denise Lorenzettiinhabitant of Marseille
While free, walk-in vaccination centers have multiplied in Marseille, we must not forget the real difficulties that affect certain populations, and even certain neighborhoods. In an article published in August 2021 on Gomet.net, Professor Jouve, surgeon at the Timone Hospital and supporter of vaccination, recalls that “the digital divide should not be underestimated by relying a little too much on tools like Doctolib and Maia “. According to him, the other difficulty of the northern districts of Marseille, “it is the poverty of our transport which prevents patients from going to hospitals or dedicated centers”.
Since its launch last November, this campaign organized by the European Hospital of Marseille has made it possible to vaccinate 700 people in their homes. But he is not the only one trying to reduce the vaccine divide. THE’association Sept (Health and Environment For All) launched a similar device targeting the northern districts of Marseille. A device to discover in this report from France 3 Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur.