Little Zoe has not yet realized his misfortune. Of course: here, nothing, or almost, does not think of a hospital. There are few adults in a white coat and bright yellow signs with the word “vaccination” written on it. But Zoe does not read. “Sting, not feel like …” Suddenly concerned about the kid. It may be 3 years old and have the nose. Her mother reassures her half a lie.

This Sunday morning, December 6, they are just hundreds, as Zoe and her parents, to get vaccinated against influenza A (H1N1), in the vast hall of the municipal building of the string on the plateau of the Croix-Rousse in 4e district of Lyon. And this once will not hurt, without queuing for hours.

It is far from the charged atmosphere of mid-November, when vaccine candidates – and their offspring – were forced to queue for more than three hundred meters, the long procession overflowing onto the Boulevard of Canute. There had been “insults and threats “Remembers Lieutenant Colonel Firefighters Rhone Daniel Quessu to oversee the organization of the center string.

These painful memories of the past. As a precaution, this Sunday at the opening of the center, a police car is still coming, a time parked in the yard. And metal fences, become useless, recall the time when he was channeling cohorts of vaccines – and their bad mood.

Today, the crowd is small, which comes without jostling or impatience. “We came on Saturday, but failed to come: there were too many people “Said a couple of young parents. Placid and stubborn, they said, “without being really sure “That it would be easier Sunday 30 am to 8 am, after what is more, the traditional festival of lights, popular with Lyonnais. Good pick!

“That fluid Confirms one of two volunteers from the Red Cross, stationed at the entrance to the room to give the grantee records administrative information and questionnaires. This fluidity is due: the duration of immunization sessions was “fourfold” compared with the initial device, said Lieutenant-Colonel Quessu.

The center of the string – as the eight other major centers of vaccination department – is now open sixty hours per week and seven days a week, with up to 22 hours nightly Monday through Saturday. What reduce queues and ease the splenetic.

The result exceeded the expectations it? “It is almost too many doctors …” Smiled the Professor Jean-Claude Guerin, Head of the Pulmonary Hospital de la Croix-Rousse, who volunteered at the center of the string, after his family has itself endured the endless queues of November.

This Sunday, they are five doctors – four vaccination posts. Medical consultation, and then puncture the meeting takes place under white tents, pitched in the middle of the hall. Each of the volunteers, doctors, nurses, administrative staff, etc.., a key benefit – varies by function and grade. In the department of Rhone, a score of military firemen from all over the Var, were mobilized. They are also compensated.

“I did not expect that it goes so fast in half an hour, done”, Welcomes William, postman, came with his wife and their two children “being bitten”. Those who come with their proper vaccination pass directly to the scribbling stage and once completed questionnaires, they spin in consultation.

The other, provided they have on them a card and identity card Vitale, are, after a short interrogation and verification via computer, awarded the coveted good, sesame essential for future operations.

Only pregnant women and children under 10 years – groups considered most vulnerable to the virus – receive a vaccine without adjuvant. “More people are vaccinated now, most of it has been jammed – and under the second wave, expected in early February, will affect people”Predicts Professor Guerin. It will take thousands of Zoe and William to achieve this goal so far in the department of Rhone; about fifty thousand people have been vaccinated or just 10% of the total population.