Young people want to be vaccinated.
These are the results of a survey carried out by Public Health France: a majority of French people aged 18 to 24 now want to obtain the serum, a trend that has increased sharply compared to the month of March.
55% of people in this age group not yet vaccinated, interviewed between April 21 and 23, assure that they “certainly” or “probably” want to be vaccinated, according to this survey published on Friday.
In mid-March, young people of the same age were just over a third (36%) to give the same answer.
The intention to be vaccinated is also increasing among 25-34 year olds, to 43% against 39%, but remains stable for the entire population (56%).
"New vaccines are not safe" top of mind
This adherence to vaccination is markedly higher among people belonging to the “higher socio-professional categories” (64%) than among “CSP-” and inactive people (50%).
Men are also much more willing to inject (62%) than women (51%).
Among the 44% resistant to vaccination, “the reasons declared to justify their choice were most often:
New vaccines are not safe
(69%);
it is not effective in preventing the spread of the epidemic
(26%) or
disease
(25%);
I prefer other means of prevention such as barrier gestures
(23%) as well as
one cannot choose one's vaccine
(20%), ”explains Public Health France in its weekly epidemiological update.
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A third of them indicate that they would be ready to change their mind if there was "information which proves the effectiveness and the safety of the vaccine".
Since the start of the Covid-19 vaccination campaign in France at the end of December, a quarter of the population has received at least one injection, 11% of which have already received two doses.
The survey was carried out before the successive announcements, on April 29 and May 6, by Emmanuel Macron on the acceleration of the vaccination schedule.
20% of the population over 20 infected
Public Health France also indicates that 13.2% of the population had antibodies against the coronavirus at the beginning of February, against 9% in October, according to a seroprevalence survey carried out on a sample of blood samples.
Very few people already presenting antibodies resulting from the vaccination on this date (it takes 15 to 21 days after the first injection "to obtain a fully detectable serological response"), this percentage essentially reflects the proportion of the population having been infected by Sars-CoV-2, underlines the health agency.
The Institut Pasteur estimates for its part, based on mathematical projections, that on March 22, just over 20% of the population over the age of 20 had been infected with the virus.
"This seroprevalence is increasing steadily but the level reached confirms that only mass vaccination will make it possible to rapidly achieve collective immunity liable to influence the dynamics of the epidemic very favorably", adds Public Health France.