They judge the action of the government “insufficient”. Political figures, association representatives and citizens are asking, in a column published on Tuesday August 2 in the HuffPost, the creation of a senatorial commission of inquiry on the action of the executive in the fight against monkeypox, as was the case in 2020 on the management of the Covid-19 health crisis.
The signatories criticize “the extreme slowness of start-up” and the “undersizing” of the vaccination campaign, as well as “lack of transparent information” on the “number of vaccines available” or “upcoming orders”.
Among the authors of the platform are the deputies of the New Popular Ecological and Social Union Sandrine Rousseau (Europe Ecologie-Les Verts, EELV) and Danielle Simonnet (La France insoumise), the first deputy mayor of Marseille, Michèle Rubirola (EELV ), the presidents of the associations Aides, Act-Up Paris and Médecins du Monde. They ask senators to set up a commission of inquiry, as was the case in 2020 on the management of the Covid-19 health crisis.
More than 42,000 doses of vaccine destocked
According to the latest report from Public Health France, published on Friday, 1,955 confirmed cases have been identified in France since May 20, the date on which a first case was detected on national territory. Faced with this surge in cases, more than 42,000 doses of smallpox vaccine were destocked and vaccination was extended to those most at risk: men who have sex with one or more men, trans people with multiple sexual partners, sex workers and professionals working in places of sexual consumption.
However, the “Available slots remain too insufficient throughout the national territory”judge the authors of the forum, who ask parliamentarians to “put an end to the secrecy of government strategy” for’“assess the quality of this strategy”.
The Minister of Health promises to “increase” the mobilization
To respond to criticism, the Minister of Health, François Braun, had assured at the end of July that France had no “not late” and claimed that the stock of smallpox vaccines was “very substantial”. However, he refused to specify the extent, pleading the ” top secret “, because smallpox can be used as a biological weapon. Monday, after a meeting with the Aides association, the Minister promised on Twitter that “mobilization throughout the territory continues[ait] to grow”.
To Sandrine Rousseau, who asked on Tuesday if “only the political will is lacking[ait] »François Braun notably opposed, during questions to the government, the “136 vaccination centers open” and the “more than 14,000 vaccinated”. After the center of ” big capacity “ opened last week in Paris, “a similar center will open very soon in Marseille”said the minister. “To reduce the time to access vaccines, especially in areas where demand is high such as in PACA and Ile-de-France”he also said to work at “an experiment with pharmacists”.
Also listen Monkey pox: towards a new health crisis?