Still not available and planned only for a targeted audience from mid-April, the self-tests are requested by many specialists. This is the case of Philippe Juvin, head of the emergency department at the European George Pompidou hospital, who pleads for a rapid and massive deployment of these tests.
- In the United States, Great Britain, Germany, at least, self-tests are available and used.
- In Great Britain, middle and high school students have two self-tests available per week.
- The deployment of self-tests in supermarkets is not planned in France.
“I don’t understand why we don’t use self-tests in France”, lamented Philippe Juvin, head of the emergency department at the European George Pompidou hospital, in the podcast of the pandemic of Pourquoi Docteur, with Radio Santé Groupe VYV on March 2. In March, the High Authority for Health (HAS) validated the use of self-tests to complete the arsenal of tests alongside PCR, saliva and antigens. On March 26, during an online press briefing, the Ministry of Health announced the deployment of these tests from mid-April to “target audiences”, in this case the students and the “populations far from care” such as precarious people or the inhabitants of certain overseas territories are mainly targeted. The issue of reimbursement for this medical device has not been settled. “The strategy is not yet stabilized, in particular on the question of reimbursement according to the public, according to the age or the situation of the person”we say at the Ministry of Health.
Large-scale sales are not planned.
This slow implementation contrasts with what is happening in other countries which massively use self-tests. “In the United States, Great Britain, Germany, at least, self-tests are available and usedadds Philippe Juvin. We are at a point in the epidemic where people should be massively tested and people at home can have the means to test themselves to control the epidemic..” A decree was published in the Official Journal on March 27 to authorize their use, but the sale will only be made in pharmacies and their presence in supermarkets “is not on the agenda“, we specify on the side of the ministry.
80% efficiency
The head of the emergency department of the Georges Pompidou hospital looks across the Channel and wonders why France does not adopt the same strategy as Great Britain. “There, since February 27, all middle and high school students can test themselves twice a week at home before going to school.he reports. With us, we announce 60,000 tests per day for 4 million middle and high school students. By doing the math, we will have done the trick within a year. Teachers have been testing themselves since the end of January/beginning of February. In addition, people are asked to record their results in a database which allows to know the level of circulation of the virus.”
The slowness of use in France is surprising when these tests have shown sufficient sensitivity to be authorized by the HAS. They meet the criteria with a sensitivity of 80% in symptomatic people, 50% in asymptomatic people and a “specificity” – proportion of patients without disease having a negative test – of 99% in symptomatic people. “There are false negatives, it is true, but antigenic self-tests are much more effective than what we saidbelieves Philippe Juvin. By testing yourself twice a week, you have a better chance of identifying patients than by doing PCR tests once a year. It’s like going fishing with a net with a hole in it, and we’ll catch more fish by going there every day with such a net than by going there once a year with a nice net..”
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