The new vaccination campaign against Covid-19, which will begin on October 17, could be brought forward if the epidemic accelerates, the Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau, said Tuesday on France 2, although he ruled out any tightening of the health protocol for the moment. .
A new variant, BA.2.86, a member of the Omicron family, was first detected in France and is being carefully monitored by the WHO due to the large number of mutations that make it likely to evolve more significantly and spread further. easily, according to the Committee for monitoring and anticipation of health risks (Covars).
“Since there are new variants, we are ready to accelerate, if necessary, the vaccination campaign,” which will be complemented, like last year, with that of the flu and which should begin on October 17, declared Aurélien Rousseau.
“At this point we are not advancing it, but if we have to speed up we will,” he added.
“It’s everyone’s responsibility”
England announced at the end of August that it was advancing its vaccination campaign against Covid to September 11 as a precaution. For Aurélien Rousseau, the return of Covid “is not particularly worrying”. “We don’t have to change our behavior,” but find reflections from the past, he stressed:
“We have symptoms, we wear a mask. We are going to see a fragile person, we wear a mask” and “when you have Covid, it is better to stay at home and not go to work,” he said. back.
“To date we have not planned to tighten the protocol, but I think it implies everyone’s responsibility.” As for returning to mandatory vaccination for nursing staff, this is not relevant, added Aurélien Rousseau.
“Today we comply with the opinion of the High Health Authority, which is our compass” and which recommended in March to eliminate the obligation to vaccinate caregivers, he said. “If ever the intensity of the epidemic circulation intensifies, we would again ask for the opinion of the HAS”, but “for the moment this vaccination is strongly recommended and we leave it at that”.
Source: BFM TV
