In the midst of the ninth wave of Covid-19 and with the holidays approaching, the small proportion of French people at risk have received their worrying booster dose. According to the latest government figures, only 20% of people over 80 years of age have been vaccinated since October 3, the date of the launch of the campaign to boost vaccination with bivalent vaccines, aimed at both the original strain of the Covid-19 as well as the Omicron subvariant.
If we broaden the focus to those over 60 years of age, the figures are slightly better – 40% received their booster dose – but they are still considered insufficient.
“No one really talks about Covid anymore”
“I wonder if I really have to do it or not. Because in the end, nobody really talks about Covid anymore,” explains a man known in the aisles of a flea market.
“I’m a little apprehensive. I think I’m going to do it, but not at the moment, it’s hard for me to decide”, says a woman.
To explain this lack of enthusiasm among the elderly, but particularly exposed to Covid-19, health professionals evoke the fatigue of a public that believed they had finished with the disease.
“We are a little more used to living our life with Covid. And I think that vaccination campaigns are now being done when the cases are less serious and people are less concerned about what is happening in terms of pathology,” explains David Abenhaim. , pharmacist. in Marseille.
+30% new cases
The reminder campaign launched on October 3 refers to those most at risk, namely those over 60 years of age, residents of nursing homes and long-term care units, the immunocompromised and even pregnant women.
But as Health Minister François Braun reminded on BFMTV on Sunday, in fact, everyone is eligible. A young man without comorbidities can receive his booster dose if he meets people at risk. That’s almost the entire French population as the end-of-year celebrations approach.
According to Covid Tracker, the ninth wave is here. On average, 55,113 positive cases are sampled every day in France, an increase of 30% compared to last week. Intensive care admissions and hospital deaths are also on the rise.
“I am sorry”
A situation that pushes the government to raise its voice. In the Sunday newspaperBrigitte Autran, who chairs the Health Risk Monitoring and Anticipation Committee, considered the lack of enthusiasm for the recall campaign “disheartening.”
A statement shared by François Braun on Sunday on our antenna.
“You have to get vaccinated when you’re fragile, when you’re in contact with fragile people. It’s totally absurd: we know that when we don’t do it we’re going to have problems, and yet the French don’t vaccinate us,” the minister lashed out.
However, he stressed that “the pace has picked up a bit over the last week.”
A message that Bertrand, 57, who decided to receive his booster dose, understood anyway. “I think we are all fed up with Covid. But the best way not to suffer from it is to get vaccinated ”, he slides after his injection.
Source: BFM TV
