Furthermore, the pandemic “is not over,” warned the COVVI-19 scientific council, which expects a gradual decrease in the impact of SARS-COV-2 with, however, circulation peaks Short -term virus.
Le Monde with AFP
Pregnant women, people under the age of 60 “at risk” and those living in the entourage of fragile people are now affected by the second dose of anti-Cavid vaccine. Following the opinion of the scientific authorities (High Authority for Health and Orientation Council for the Vaccination Strategy), the government has decided to expand the vaccination recall in an “epidemiological context which remains worrying, with very contagious variants” explained on Wednesday July 20 the Minister of Health, François Braun, during a press point.
This enlargement concerns about 5 million people, which brings about 17 million the number of French people eligible for this second dose of recall. Until now, only those over 60 and immunocompromised people have had access to it, or some 12 million individuals. Among them, approximately 4 million received a second reminder.
possible from three months
This additional dose of recall is possible from three months after the first recall for the most fragile (over 80 years, residents of nursing homes or severely immunocompromised). For the others, it can be administered six months after the first recall. And, “in the event of infection between the first and the second reminder, we can make a second reminder three months after the infection,” said the Minister of Health.
Questioned to find out if the government planned to propose a second reminder to the whole population in the fall, the minister replied: “Clearly, no.” “Today, there is no Probable scenario that would extend the second reminder to all, even if it is necessary to remain cautious, “he continued.
He also delivered the injection figures for the American laboratory vaccine Novavax, based on conventional technology. “We were waiting for important figures, this is not what we observed,” said François Braun. “Only 28,000 doses of this vaccine have been injected since March, it’s very little, but it remains a useful vaccine,” he said. According to the latest Opinion of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) , dating from July 14, the Novavax vaccine could cause severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis).
“The pandemic is not finished”
The pandemic “is not over,” warned in his probable latest opinion, published on Wednesday, the COVID-19 scientific council. “We must expect the appearance of new variants of Sars-Cov-2 in the human population,” warns the body, which, for almost two and a half years, guided the executive in its health decisions and must be replaced at the end of the month by a “monitoring and anticipation committee of health risks”.
In this opinion entitled “Living with the variants” and dated Tuesday, July 19, the Council underlines that the virus “now benefits from a human reservoir large enough for endemic circulation in the human population”. According to him, “this circulation could in the coming years remain at high levels” and “are accompanied by epidemic thrusts associated with the emergence of new variants, more accentuated in the fall-world period”.
If he cannot come forward to predict which variant will be dominant, he hopes that the immunity of the population acquired thanks to vaccines and infections will allow “growing protection against the serious forms of COVID-19”.