The anti-Covid recall campaign with new vaccines adapted to Omicron will start on October 3, Health Minister François Braun announced on FranceInfo on Tuesday. “We are going towards a vaccination campaign starting this fall, starting, to be exact, from October 3, when we will have the new vaccines available,” he said.
This new vaccination campaign is announced when “we have seen a resumption of the circulation of the virus for three weeks”, explained the minister. “There is recirculation of the virus, therefore there is remobilization,” she says.
Who is this vaccination for?
“We are going towards a new booster dose, not for the entire population, the High Health Authority has been clear and continues to tell us to vaccinate a target population: frail people, over 60 years of age”, declares François Braun. He also cites “health professionals” as well as “people in contact with frail people”.
“Those who have been vaccinated will be revaccinated, yet another reminder,” he explained, “three months later. [la dernière dose, ndlr] for those over 80 years of age at least, after six months for others.
This new booster dose is recommended for people at serious risk, their environment and caregivers, as the HAS had declared in a press release dated September 20. Among the people at risk, those over 60 years of age are cited, but also “those who have comorbidities that expose them to these severe forms, pregnant women, from the 1st trimester of their pregnancy, immunocompromised people regardless of their age, children and adolescents at high risk of suffering pathologies that justify it.
In addition, “the environment of these people (cocoon strategy) as well as the people who are in regular contact with them: professionals in the health and medical-social sector”, are concerned about this new reminder.
· Can other people be vaccinated?
Asked about the possibility that the general population, which is not at risk, be vaccinated with this new reminder, François Braun left the doors open: “of course if you want to get vaccinated, you can get vaccinated”.
Among the people affected by a new injection, the Minister of Health also cited those who received a fourth dose (or second booster) in recent months but who did not receive an injection. “People who didn’t get the second booster this summer should get vaccinated,” he said.
“In anticipation of autumn and winter, we invite you to take your primary vaccine or be revaccinated, if eligible, following the advice of your national health authority,” declared for its part the EMA (European Medicines Agency) at a press conference last week.
· What vaccines will be used?
For this withdrawal campaign, the High Health Authority (HAS) recommended using one of the three vaccines adapted to the Omicron subvariants -all with messenger RNA, two from Pfizer/BioNTech, one from Moderna- recently approved by the European Medicines Agency , and pair it with the one against the flu, which will begin on October 18.
The first bottles ordered must be delivered between September 29 and October 4, according to a recent message sent by the ministry to health professionals, citing only 576,000 doses available at the start.
These vaccines, called bivalent vaccines, “are not new vaccines but vaccines adapted to circulating strains, such as seasonal flu vaccines whose annual update takes into account the viruses with the greatest probability of circulating during the winter,” explains the HAS. , “the vaccine platform is the same, the total amount of mRNA per dose also”.
“As of October 3, we will have these new bivalent vaccines available in pharmacies, in vaccination centers, that is, these vaccines that vaccinate you against the wild strain, which are always very effective, but which will also vaccinate against Omicron”, detailed the Minister of Health.
Source: BFM TV
