The public rapporteur leans in favor of the petitioners: he proposes to force the Ministry of Health to sell DT-Polio again. It has not been available since 2008.
After 9 years of absence, DT-Polio could make a comeback in pharmacies. In any case, this is the opinion of the public rapporteur of the Council of State, presented on January 16. According to The world, the court could push the Minister of Health to take the necessary steps. Its final conclusions are expected by the end of January. They could put Marisol Touraine in a delicate position. Indeed, the recommendations resulting from the national consultation on vaccination have not yet been implemented.
Limited kits
“It’s a huge relief for those who just want to take the classic DTP vaccine,” said theAFP Augustin de Livois, president of the Institute for the Protection of Natural Health (IPSN), present at the hearing and author a petition in this sense. In fact, the conclusions of the public rapporteur agree with the many protesters. It proposes the provision of vaccines which contain only the obligatory strains (diphtheria, tetanus, polio). This was the case until 2008, when the trivalent vaccine was withdrawn.
By default, only vaccines containing in addition recommended strains are now offered to families. A choice not always accepted. The laboratories were well committed to selling special kits, at the request of the Directorate General of Health. But only children with contraindications could access it.
Four months
The public protractor points to a double flaw in the system at work. First, the Minister of Health has the means to force the sale of a trivalent vaccine. He also underlined the “current discrepancy between the vaccine obligation and the impossibility of meeting it”, according to The world. That is exactly the arguments put forward by the IPSN and Pr Henri Joyeux – suspended by the Order of Physicians.
The conclusions of the public rapporteur are often followed by the Council of State. He will decide at the end of January. If this position is confirmed, Marisol Touraine will have to initiate the process within four months. A perilous job and one which could collide with the strategy of evolution of the vaccine policy. The Fischer-Rambaud report indeed proposed to extend the obligation to 11 diseases… before lifting it completely.
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