"Honestly, I'm scared. I really feel like I could have a cardiac arrest at any moment."
Like André, 71, who was vaccinated against chikungunya, many people in Réunion are expressing their concern after the announcement of a death linked to vaccination.
Since Sunday, André, who does not want to give his name "so as not to worry" his children who did not want him to be vaccinated, has been engaged in a morning ritual.
This retired construction worker in Saint-Denis gets up from his bed as slowly as possible to make sure he doesn't get dizzy.
But the announcement on Saturday by health authorities of the vaccine-related death of an 80-year-old shocked him.
On Saturday, the French National Authority for Health (HAS) also ordered the withdrawal of people aged 65 and over from the vaccination campaign using the Ixchiq vaccine, from the Franco-Austrian laboratory Valneva, in Mayotte and Réunion. France has acquired 100,000 doses.
– “Herd immunity” –
According to figures announced on April 22 to Emmanuel Macron during his visit to the island by Gérard Cotellon, director of the Regional Health Agency (ARS), André is one of some 3,000 people already vaccinated in Reunion.
Launched on April 7 by the Minister for Overseas Territories, Manuel Valls, the vaccination campaign "is off to a slow start," the director of the ARS told the head of state.
"It's a good thing people didn't rush into it, we could have had a lot of deaths," fumes Henri Clain, 69, a retired salesman in Saint-Benoît (east of Réunion).
"I don't know why they didn't just stop the vaccination campaign," he says angrily.
Interviewed on Réunion La 1ère on Saturday, the head of the ARS stressed that stopping the vaccination campaign (for 18-64 year-olds with comorbidities) was "not envisaged", as the vaccine could "lead to herd immunity".
The Director General of Health, Dr. Grégory Emery, said on Sunday that the campaign had not been launched too quickly, as "all the stages" of control had been "respected."
But the argument does not convince everyone on the island, where more than 885,000 people live.
– “Guinea pigs” –
"I feel like we're being treated like guinea pigs, and this affair will further diminish the credibility of the health authorities in the eyes of the public," said Henri Clain.
"For my part, I find the reaction of the health authorities rather reassuring, everything was done transparently," says Alix, a 36-year-old mother, who does not wish to give her name.
"They were very responsive as soon as it was established that there was a danger for people over 65," she added.
The three "serious adverse events, including one death," linked to the vaccine, "were reported starting on April 21. It's now the 26th, and there has been a recommendation from the High Authority for Health," the ARS director defends.
Philippe Besset, president of the French Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions (FSPF), said on France Info on Sunday that "while the investigation is underway, it would be more peaceful if vaccinations were suspended altogether."
As soon as the death was announced, Senator Audrey Bélim (PS) called for the establishment of a parliamentary commission of inquiry to "shed light on the reasons for the serious error concerning the vaccination of those over 65."
LFI MP Jean-Hugues Ratenon called for the immediate suspension of the vaccination campaign.
Nearly 120,000 people have been infected by the virus, transmitted by the tiger mosquito, since the beginning of the year, according to ARS estimates.
Nine deaths of people over 70 years old with comorbidities have been recorded by Public Health France. Nine other deaths, including that of an infant, are currently under investigation.
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