We must save the AstraZeneca vaccine!
This seems to be the death order of the government for a few days, while the injections with this product do not take off.
In question ?
Its supposed ineffectiveness against Covid-19 - especially in the elderly - as well as the side effects it generates.
It is necessary "to use all possible levers" to convince, in particular concerning "the image" and the effectiveness of the vaccine, had openly advanced the Ministry of Health during a situation update Tuesday.
The challenge ?
That AstraZeneca "meets its target".
It is clear that this is not the case for the moment.
Since its launch on February 6, fewer than 140,000 people have received a first dose (data stopped on February 24).
These are mainly caregivers under the age of 65, since AstraZeneca is not used in people aged 65 and over and the opening of vaccination for 50-64 year olds in a doctor's office has not taken place. that this Thursday, February 25.
The daily number of injections, on average over the past week, has peaked at around 8,000 for a week.
Macron's warning
It should be remembered that this vaccine left with several balls on the feet.
“We have very little information on this vaccine, we are waiting to see the results of the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
Today, we think that it is almost ineffective for people over 65, ”Emmanuel Macron told foreign correspondents he met on January 29.
On the same day, the EMA recommended it for all adults over 18, even the oldest.
The clinical data presented by the manufacturers are however not very significant, the samples being very small.
The agency nevertheless considered that protection was "expected", given that these people generate an immune response and in view of the effects of other products.
But the Haute Autorité de Santé, which has the final say in marketing in France, saw it differently.
"The data currently available in people 65 years of age or older are limited by a small sample size and do not allow conclusions on the safety and efficacy of the vaccine in this population," she wrote in its opinion of February 2, recommending that it be prescribed only to those under 65.
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On the ground, when some citizens question him, Richard Bouigue feels that Macron's little sentence in front of the foreign press has not gone unnoticed.
“There was no desire to denigrate but it was really taken as such.
A lot of people told me that AstraZeneca was not very effective.
I replied that we simply could not speak for a part of the population, but without managing to convince them, “regrets the first deputy mayor of the 12th arrondissement.
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"It is unacceptable to have a perhaps less effective vaccine": these caregivers who do not want AstraZeneca
In recent days, the president of the Orientation Council for the vaccine strategy, Alain Fischer, and the health authorities are scrambling to try to convince, while the epidemic is starting to rebound in France.
One of their main weapons?
A new study conducted "in real life" in Scotland and published on the Social Science Research Network.
This is only a preprint, i.e. it has not yet been reviewed and peer-reviewed, but its results suggest that AstraZeneca would be more effective against severe forms than 'one could not think so, including among the elderly.
94% effectiveness with AstraZeneca after four weeks
The effectiveness of a dose of vaccine, Pfizer / BioNTech or AstraZeneca (which have been administered in Scotland since the beginning of December and the beginning of January respectively), has been observed in more than one million inhabitants.
It shows that after four weeks, the risk of being hospitalized had dropped by 85% for people who received Pfizer and 94% for those who received AstraZeneca.
“With the margin of error, we are roughly at the same levels.
But this study is interesting because it shows that the efficacy is high after a single dose with each of the two vaccines and it does not seem inferior with AstraZeneca ”, indicates Jean-Daniel Lelièvre, head of the infectious diseases department at the Henri-Mondor hospital in Créteil (Val-de-Marne).
However, you should not think that you can be satisfied with just one dose.
AstraZeneca requires two, eight to twelve weeks apart, and it seems certain that this rate of 94% will decrease until the second injection.
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In people over 80 years of age, on average and regardless of the vaccine used, the risk of developing a severe form of the disease decreases by 81%.
However, the vast majority of patients in this age group have received AstraZeneca.
Which suggests that this one also works for them.
“81% is very good protection.
We accept to be vaccinated against influenza while some years the effectiveness is only 40%.
", Advances immunologist Stéphane Paul, member of the Vaccine Covid committee.
"We must be careful in the interpretations, [but] it seems that this vaccine is effective in people over the age of 65," Alain Fischer said Thursday evening at the government press conference.
▶ # COVID19 and #vaccination.
🗣 @PrAlainFischer defends the #AstraZeneca #vaccine: "There is no reason to consider it '2nd category': it is quite effective, it is safe, it can be administered".
📺 @ TF1.
📲 @LCI # Castex18h> https://t.co/XaLxV5Mu3f.
pic.twitter.com/4Uxfw9yoJp
- TF1LeJT (@ TF1LeJT) February 25, 2021
We will have to wait for the proofreading and the final publication of the study to be certain.
"It's a matter of weeks," anticipates Jean-Daniel Lelièvre.
If the data are confirmed, it is a whole part of the vaccine strategy that could be reviewed.
Because AstraZeneca could then also be authorized for those over 65, while the 65-74 must for the moment take their troubles patiently (Pfizer and Moderna are for the moment reserved for the 75 years and over).
According to our information, the Vaccine Strategy Orientation Council plans to discuss with the Scottish team next week.
AstraZeneca also appears to be effective against the so-called “British” variant, although there are still serious questions about the one identified first in South Africa.
971 cases of adverse effects
It remains to settle the concern of side effects, sometimes very penalizing.
The latest report from the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM), published this Friday, mentions 971 cases of adverse effects in two weeks (from February 6 to 18).
By that date, 92,204 people had received at least a first dose of AstraZeneca.
"The vast majority of these cases concern flu-like syndromes, often of high intensity (high fever, body aches, headaches)", reports the ANSM.
If they are therefore not serious in the clinical sense, it may have made some caregivers tick.
“I was supposed to get vaccinated on a Friday.
But as I was alone on call at the weekend and I didn't want to be flat, I preferred to skip my turn, ”testifies a young Parisian doctor.
On this point, Alain Fischer recommends "a very simple way" to limit the risk of ending up with 39 or 40 fever: take a paracetamol tablet just before vaccination.
It also highlights that the side effects occur especially in the youngest.
"In people over 50, this vaccine is perfectly well tolerated," he guaranteed in a video posted Thursday on Twitter.
He was responding to a general practitioner from Saint-Paul-de-Vence (Alpes-Maritimes), openly opposed to vaccinating with AstraZeneca.
My response to one of my colleagues who chose not to offer the AstraZeneca vaccine to his patients.
https://t.co/GQ0fjZ01gh pic.twitter.com/5SERsALOpF
- Alain Fischer (@PrAlainFischer) February 25, 2021
