Under the pressure of the demand for vaccination, the large vaccine park in Toulouse, in hall 8 on the Ile du Ramier, is about to open its doors at the start of the week. The regional health agency and the prefecture have not yet communicated the exact day but the date of Monday, December 6 was mentioned recently after others were also considered, such as the 7th or the 8th.

The authorities found themselves under pressure and had to work urgently to set up this structure as quickly as possible. Especially since a difficulty quickly appeared: the failure of the CHU. The Toulouse hospital, which had been the linchpin of the first device, will not participate in the second version vaccinodrome. A completely different architecture therefore had to be found.

It is the town hall of Toulouse which will assume legal, administrative and medical responsibility for the vaccinodrome, as François Chollet, deputy mayor, confirmed to us, while making its premises available. To take on this task, it plans to recruit students, or at least some of them, that the CHU had hired this summer. They were 3000 at the peak. They could be 600 at first.

Firefighters are also called upon to play an important role. The Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (SDIS) opened a vaccination center on Tuesday, November 30, at its premises in Colomiers for those over 65. This center is expected to close on December 17, which will allow firefighters to intervene in greater numbers at the vaccinodrome where they will be anyway from the start.

Very present this summer, the reservist associations, grouped together under the name of White Hussars, are preparing a large battalion of volunteers for medical and administrative tasks. With the help of civil protection associations.

Several sources indicating that the CHU is facing staff shortages due, among other things, to defections linked to the long Covid crisis. And this while the fifth wave could power up its services. Contacted this Friday, the CHU has not yet responded to our call. SAMU teams could however be stakeholders in the vaccinodrome but under the status of volunteer firefighters.

The vaccinodrome operated from April 7 to October 23, 2021, helping some 600 people a day at its peak. It allowed the injection of 662,361 doses, which made it one of the largest structures in France.