Imagine the vaccination campaign as a marathon.
With this goal set by Emmanuel Macron himself: to vaccinate all adults who wish before the end of the summer.
The oldest French and those suffering from pathologies exposing them to the risk of dying from Covid-19 have already been bitten.
But from this morning, several million more people will also be able to get immunized and participate in this long-distance race against the virus.
The Minister of Health Olivier Véran has indeed announced to the JDD that all French people aged 55 and over (without conditions) will be eligible for vaccination from this Monday, with AstraZeneca or soon the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
"The priority objective being to reduce mortality and mitigate the impact of the epidemic on emergency services, it is a legitimate and coherent decision because the mortality curve linked to Covid-19 is starting to take off from the age of 50, underlines the infectious disease specialist Anne-Claude Crémieux.
And in the medium term, vaccination will be extended to other age groups within the population, on the assumption that the more people there are protected, the more the circulation of the virus will be slowed down.
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"If new variants emerge ..."
Epidemiologist Antoine Flahault, however, has doubts about the government-backed “all vaccine” policy.
In an interview with the JDD, he considers this bet “risky and risky” and considers that three hypotheses could limit the effectiveness of this strategy: “If new variants emerge and jeopardize the effectiveness of vaccines;
if the delivery is not at the desired pace;
whether the problems encountered by the AstraZeneca vaccine arose with other vaccines and called into question the support of the population.
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The growing mistrust of the French vis-à-vis the Anglo-Swedish product, at the origin of very rare but serious cases of coagulation disorders in some patients under the age of 55, could indeed hamper the mechanics. vaccine set up in France.
"Between the adverse effects observed, the suspension and then the resumption of vaccination with AstraZeneca, there is a brake in a lot of patients who prefer to wait or have another vaccine if they have the possibility", explains the president of the union of general practitioners MG France, Jacques Battistoni.
Well aware of the fears aroused by the serum, Olivier Véran assures that the AstraZeneca vaccine is "very effective and protects against serious forms of Covid-19".
The Minister of Health repeated this weekend that “more than 157,000 French people received an injection with this product on Friday”.
In the field, however, some doctors make the opposite observation.
"There has been so much controversy around this vaccine that there is real mistrust, assures doctor Jean-Marc Aydin, regulator at Samu 93. Many people supposed to be vaccinated with have canceled their appointment and are claiming at all costs from Pfizer.
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A very risky reaction in the eyes of Benjamin Clouzeau, resuscitator at the Bordeaux University Hospital.
“We are starting to see people arriving at the hospital who refused vaccination even though they were eligible and unfortunately suffered from serious forms of the virus, such as this 70-year-old man who did not want AstraZeneca and who has just been admitted to us in intensive care, explains the practitioner.
The benefit-risk ratio is very clearly in favor of the vaccine.
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A finding corroborated by infectious disease specialist Anne-Claude Crémieux.
"To reduce severe forms of Covid-19 and prevent hospitalizations, we know that a dose of Pfizer like AstraZeneca has an effectiveness of 85%," said the specialist.
In its long-distance race to vaccinate as many adults as possible before the end of the summer, France will however be able to count from this Monday on the arrival of 200,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, provided, according to the Minister of Health, " one week in advance ”.
Another good news: the vaccination campaign by Pfizer and Moderna will be extended to everyone over 60 years old from next Friday.
