Covid-19 would a vaccination plan by general practitioners have been accepted by Belgian citizens of Wallonia than governmental vaccination centers? From European vaccine approval, through its cold chain and administration.

Abstract

The years 2020 and 2021 have undoubtedly been affected by the emergence of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) throughout the world. In fact, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially characterized the virus as a pan- demic. Since a vaccine was the only solution to stop this pandemic, the race in search of a vaccine able to counter this virus was launched. However, finding an effective vaccine for a new and almost unknown virus which could be approved at large scale was only the first step in the race. Indeed, once a vaccine was released, tested and approved, the question of produc- tion and distribution arose. Finding a vaccine was a great scientific challenge, but ensuring its management and distribution was quite another logistical issue. Therefore, supply chain and scientific innovation worked more closely than ever. Both sectors collaborated in order to find an optimal solution to this century’s challenge. Fortunately, vaccines were discovered and ap- proved in an incredible short period. A whole chapter is dedicated to the approval journey of a vaccine, with aims to highlight the main stakeholders and characteristics in an emergency con- text. As a remark, since approval systems differ from country to country, the chapter focuses on the European approval system. The next step was to produce and distribute vaccines. Since vaccines, in a general way - but even particularly vaccines against COVID-19 - must be kept in specific conditions, the second chapter is dedicated to the description of the global cold chain around vaccine distribution. Finally, since an imperative criterion in order to succeed was the acceptance of the vaccine by the population, the last part of this research named “COVID-19- Would a vaccination plan by general practitioners have been better accepted by the Belgian cit- izens of Wallonia than governmental vaccination centers? - From European vaccine approval to its cold chain and administration” is dedicated to Belgian vaccination strategies and accep- tance of vaccines by Walloon citizens. As a reminder, we are talking about a worldwide issue, affecting 8 billion people. Therefore, since a mass vaccination plan like this had never been seen before, prioritization rules had to be determined in order to choose which people to vac- cinate first. Belgian rules are described in addition to the whole organization on the ground of mass governmental vaccination centers in Wallonia. The last part is a comparison between two vaccination scenarios: the current one, and another based on a vaccination campaign done by General practitioners. The objective was to determine which one would have been preferred and helping authorities to know how to react in case of future similar situations. Once the feasibility of the scenario was analyzed, a survey through Walloon citizens was carried out. Thanks to the analysis of results, the tendency was very clear: only 23% of respondents would have preferred that the vaccination campaign would have been done by general practitioners. However, in a context of vaccine boosters, when the emergency context will be over and when vaccines will be easier to maintain, vaccination by general practitioners will be an optimal solution.