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Since the health card was announced, the French have flocked to vaccinate. To allow everyone to benefit from it, MSF, in cooperation with the health authorities, has deployed a mobile clinic in Paris. Objective: to vaccinate the homeless and migrants.
« Who is responsible for immunizing refugees, internally displaced persons and stateless persons? »And Requested High Commissioner for Refugees to the United Nations in January 2021. Then, in March, the Red Cross took off A call to vaccinate immigrants. In Ile-de-France, it is an NGO Doctors without borders (MSF) mandated by the Regional Health Agency (ARS) to vaccinate people living in extreme poverty. the aim, Developed by the French government Vaccination of 100% of asylum seekers and precarious refugees.
White tents are erected along the Avenue de la Porte de la Villette, in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. This is where MSF set up its mobile clinic. Since June 8, doctors and nurses who work there are also responsible for administering vaccines against Covid-19. ” The clinic was there before the epidemic, recalls Christiana Castro, a nurse and activity director for the MSF mission in France. But with Covid-19, we have strengthened our presence. Our goal is to ensure quality by getting as close as possible to people who cannot travel to public vaccination centers.. »
Partnership with Restos du coeur
MSF vaccinations in migrant workers’ homes, day centers and emergency shelters. Because for those homeless people, sometimes without papers, making an appointment online can be complicated. Difficulty accessing the Internet, reading and speaking French, fear of having to submit documents in an illegal situation, worrying about the authorities …
So partnerships are created with other associations, as is the case here with Heart Restaurants, whose distribution center is located very close by. One way is to make one available in places already frequented by immigrants and at great risk. It is this closeness that prompted Adama to inoculate. ” I’m homeless, explains the 27-year-old Malian. I live on the street, and I come to Porte de la Villette to see people and to eat. This is how I got my first dose of the vaccine: They were there and offered my vaccinations. The young man hesitates to complete his vaccination with a second dose, because the first made him ill. Now he fears the side effects, which are hard to manage when sleeping on the street, despite the Dolipran distributed by MSF teams.
Unconditional vaccination
In the center of the crowd, Fiovi distributes small, hand-numbered sheets of paper. This is how this social worker organizes the line that grows in front of the vaccination center and determines the order of passage for each of them. The vaccine candidates are divided into two lines, one for the first dose and one for the second dose. Faced with a precarious and always unstable audience, it is difficult to ensure follow-up and ensure that the second dose of the vaccine is given. Hence the importance of going out to meet them and regular attendance in the field.
Thus, the mobile clinic operates without an appointment, and “ No need for paper ‘” confirms Christiana Castro. “We follow the logic of universal access to vaccination. All you have to do is show up on a Tuesday or Thursday between 11am and 3pm. If they have Social Security, we ask them to bring their papers to complete their health clearance online, but if they don’t, we We accept them too.. »
« I feel protected »
In the tail, we speak Dari, Pashtun, Arabic or even Bambara. The teams are accompanied by a translator using eight languages. Adjiman, a 21-year-old Afghan boy, comes out of the tent, not hiding his joy. shouting in English” I have a vaccine, I’m free (“I’m vaccinated, I’m free.”) He lives in a nearby camp and came to get vaccinated with his friends. Fofana, who waits 15 minutes for the organization on a plastic chair, feels relieved too.” It was a friend who told me to come here, This 32-year-old Ivorian national explains. I am happy to be vaccinated: I will no longer be able to catch the virus or pass it on to someone else. I feel protected. »
the mixing Which prevails in shelters as in the camps increases the possibility of contracting the virus and exposes especially those populations at risk. Weakened by the streets, and far from healthy structures, it is also difficult for them to receive proper treatment. At the Porte de la Villette mobile clinic, an average of 120 people are vaccinated each day. An important number, but not yet sufficient to meet demand.
5000 doses of vaccine
In the crowd, many return for the second or third time, failing to find a place in the previous days. ” Not so much that the vaccine doses are running out, Christiana Castro explains. Our human resources are particularly limited: we cannot vaccinate more with two doctors and four nurses. Especially since the demand has increased significantly since the announcement of the health card. »
Because for people on the street and immigrants, entering a café or library may be the only way to access the Internet, an essential tool for carrying out administrative procedures. For those who work, legally or informally, a vaccine is also essential. And in the midst of the crowds, we fear that we will end up entering the accommodation centers on the condition that a health permit is submitted.
Thus, MSF has provided nearly 5,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to people living in extreme poverty since 8 June. But for Cristiana Castro, this is still not enough: “ I hope that with Covid we realize that the right to health must benefit everyone, and that the efforts made during this pandemic will continue when it is over. Everyone has the right to treatment. »
Vaccination in the mobile clinic Porte de la Villette (19th century Paris) on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11 am to 3 pm; And from Monday to Friday in the cafeteria Restos du cœur in the Porte de la Villette.
