The situation seemed "so ridiculous" to her that she burst out laughing.
"It's dramatic to demolish so much confidence," tackles the virologist Christine Rouzioux, about the new twist on the AstraZeneca vaccine, now reserved for 55 years and over.
The bad soap opera, at the origin of a monster cacophony, seems endless.
If at the beginning of February, the High Authority of Health recommended it only to the under 65 years, for lack of "sufficient data" on its effectiveness in the oldest, the doubts had been raised, over the days, and the age limit swept aside. .
But now the cursed vaccine was then suspended in bursts in about fifteen countries, including France, due to a possible link with coagulation problems.
Three days later, this Thursday, the European Medicines Agency delivers a reassuring verdict.
The product from the British-Swedish laboratory is considered "safe and effective" and "is not associated with an increase in cases of blood clots".
A downside, however, concerning rare cerebral thrombosis, 18 identified in Europe, and disseminated coagulations, seven in total, for which a link with serum is "not excluded".
READ ALSO>
AstraZeneca vaccine: a green light and ... questions
In the process, Jean Castex announces that the bites resume this Friday.
Leading by example, the Prime Minister was immunized under the watchful eye of the cameras.
Except that, on the same day, a new twist, the High Authority for Health only recommends the AstraZeneca product to over 55s, the exact opposite of its February opinion.
Contacted by Le Parisien, the Ministry of Health indicates that it is following its position.
VIDEO. Covid-19: Jean Castex was vaccinated with AstraZeneca
Why this turnaround?
The High Authority for Health recalls that the European Medicines Agency "has identified a possible increased risk of disseminated intravascular coagulation and cerebral thrombophlebitis in people under 55 years of age".
“Age is the main risk factor that exposes people to developing serious forms of the disease,” said Dominique Le Guludec, president of the HAS, during a press briefing.
Coronavirus Newsletter
Update on the Covid-19 epidemic
Subscribe to the newsletterAll newsletters
"We have alternatives for the youngest", she also indicated, referring in particular to the messenger RNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.
The Johnson & Johnson are also expected from mid-April.
And the second dose?
For people under the age of 55 who already have a dose of AstraZeneca vaccine, the HAS "will very soon position itself on the methods of administering the second dose".
Many caregivers are concerned, starting with the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, who is 40 years old and has been vaccinated with this product.
This question of second injections does not arise, a priori, not immediately, since the recommended gap between each of them is nine to twelve weeks.
However, the AstraZeneca campaign began on February 6 (before a strong acceleration at the end of February), that is to say six weeks ago.
Anyway, this half-hearted recovery poses a problem, the government counting on this product, easier to keep and therefore to administer via general practitioners and pharmacists, than its competitors Pfizer and Moderna.
Currently, just over 1.4 million people have received a first dose.
"We no longer understand anything", gets carried away Yves Buisson, epidemiologist and president of the Covid-19 group of the Academy of Medicine.
"We would like to screw up the countryside that we would not do otherwise," he said, criticizing an excess of precaution.
READ ALSO>
When AstraZeneca skates, competing vaccines gain momentum
For virologist Christine Rouzioux, it was expected that the AstraZeneca serum would cause flu-like symptoms but not “cerebral venous thrombosis”, which affects a vein in the brain.
“It is rare and unexplained, nevertheless the risk is extremely small, that does not justify that one reduces the access to the vaccine, she says.
Why don't we just give aspirin to prevent blood clots?
"
Without a boost in the countryside, this expert fears that we will not get out of it.
“What you have to understand is that confinement will not work if there is no vaccination.
"