Since 2007, vaccination against tuberculosis is no longer required in newborns. Nevertheless, it remains strongly recommended in children (up to 15 years) who are at high risk of contracting the disease: family history or residence in Ile-de-France, Guyana or Mayotte.
A “long and delicate” production
Except that at present, the Sanofi-Pasteur laboratory, the only supplier in France of the BCG SSI vaccine in France, is … out of stock. The situation is not new: at the end of November 2014 already, the company announced “the release of the BCG SSI (…) at the beginning of February 2015”. But since then, still nothing: it is still impossible for parents to obtain the vaccine in pharmacies.
At Sanofi, this delay is explained by technical difficulties. A “living” pharmaceutical product, BCG SSI would be “long and delicate” to produce: approximately 18 months. The fact remains that the stock shortage is not total: multifaceted, the anti-tuberculosis remains available in Maternal and Child Protection centers (PMI) and in anti-tuberculosis centers. A case to follow.
Read also: Tuberculosis appeared 70,000 years ago.
