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A deputy from France’s ruling party has suggested that the country’s veterinarians may be called upon to bolster the ranks of those administering the coronavirus vaccine.
Veterinarians are well used to the vaccination business. “They do it on a daily basis, and their clients are not always happy to cooperate,” said Loïc Dombreval, deputy of the ruling LREM party, himself a qualified veterinarian.
Almost 5,000 Dombreval colleagues are volunteer members of the “health reserve”, a group of health professionals administered by national health authorities, to provide short-term emergency assistance in the aftermath of disasters and crises.
Loïc Dombreval wrote to the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, suggesting that veterinarians could be called upon to fill the shortage of vaccination staff.
Involving those normally concerned with animal health in the effort to vaccinate the human population could increase the rate of inoculation.
For a week, the vaccination rate of the French has accelerated. About 100,000 doses per day have been administered over the past week, including 180,000 on Friday and Saturday.
According to the latest official statistics, 3.7 million French people – or about 6% of the population – have received at least one vaccine. Almost two million are fully vaccinated, having received both doses.
Loïc Dombreval points out that thousands of his colleagues offered their help at the start of the epidemic, and many were disappointed by the lack of official reaction.
Veterinarians have already been recruited to help with the coronavirus vaccination in Argentina, Canada and several parts of the United States.
In Germany and China, they have been involved in high-level decision-making related to the outbreak, due to their experience in treating coronaviruses and other epidemic infections in animals.
French animal immunologist Thierry Lafrançois was finally invited last month to join the government’s scientific council, the body that advises the executive on the Covid-19 crisis.
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