“I'm not risking anything, I have my first dose of Astra!
Before leaving for the weekend with his friends, Marc was sure: with a negative PCR test and a first injection carried out a week earlier, the virus would not pass through him.
Mask abandoned, glasses intertwined, songs at the top of the lungs with friends ... And five days later, "the hammer blow" for the fifty-something who, at the turn of a new screening, learns to be positive for Covid-19.
Fatigue, total isolation from his family, all professional appointments canceled.
Fortunately for him, the story ends with this "good flip", but for others, it continues in the hospital.
“We have more and more this type of patient in our departments.
They see their first dose as a totem, while the very first antibodies do not appear until after two weeks and then gradually climb.
I call it
the vaccinee syndrome
, ”blows Benjamin Davido, infectious disease specialist at Garches hospital (Hauts-de-Seine).
Read also Covid-19: the epidemic is marking time, but beware of slackening
“Since the start of vaccination, there has been a considerable number of infections and post-first dose hospitalizations.
I still very recently admitted a patient in this case, ”notes Jean-Michel Constantin, the secretary general of the French Society of Anesthesia and Resuscitation, which practices at Pitié-Salpêtrière, in Paris.
A finding already observed in Israel, at the start of the vaccination campaign.
“We saw the same phenomenon in January,” describes Irène Fermont, pharmacovigilance specialist in Jerusalem.
The sick find it hard to believe
So when patients, believing themselves to be protected, hear the word Covid, they find it hard to believe it. "They tell me:
no, it is not possible, I was vaccinated
, says Jean-Marc Agostinucci, doctor at Samu 93. You just have to ask them since when, to learn that they only received a first dose ten days ago. This was the case of this grandfather, taken this Monday to the hospital after a reunion with his grandson. In general, these patients are "60-75 years old, a small hypertension, no large comorbidities", details the doctor, evoking family contaminations.
In the hospital, these cases do not lead to “real waves of resuscitation but it is indicative of a state of mind.
As soon as we think we are minimally protected, we release the barrier gestures too quickly, ”resumes resuscitator Jean-Michel Constantin.
“You just have to see what is happening in the vaccination centers.
Before a first dose, everyone wears their mask and afterwards, people take it off during the 15 minutes of observation, ”notes Jean-Marc Agostinucci.
"It would be a shame to fall on the last step"
In addition to hospitalization, the risk is also "to make a rifle form of the disease or even, for the youngest, a long Covid", recalls Professor Jean-Michel Constantin.
He knows it twice: he himself "caught" the virus a few days after having passed through the bite box.
"But not by slackening!"
he promises.
I took the plane and it remains a risky place, especially because people eat there without masks.
"
These infections are not only due to a lack of vigilance, "but quite simply also to the circulation of the virus, which is still very active!
Even vaccinated, if you cross it too early, it can reach you, ”confirms the professor of infectious diseases, Karine Lacombe.
Especially since the reopening of the terraces and the legitimate desire to enjoy a normal life again, could accentuate this phenomenon.
“Monday, May 31, vaccination for all opens. It's fabulous, lots of young people will have access to it. We must go there en masse, encourages the doctor. But you must also keep in mind that you are really protected only after the second dose. "This is really not the time to expose yourself to an idiotic risk, agrees Jean-Michel Constantin. We reach our goal, it would be too bad to fall on the last step. "
