This is both a good thing and a risk.
Professor Arnaud Fontanet, epidemiologist at the Pasteur Institute and member of the Scientific Council, welcomed the extension of the reminder of the vaccination against Covid-19 to all adults, this Thursday morning, on LCI.
This is "a good thing," he commented.
But he still pointed to a risk: "the influx of people to the recall should not prevent the people most at risk from finding appointments."
"The doses exist," he reassured.
But many French people are trying to find a niche via Doctolib, and the wait in some cities is long.
“It may be necessary to prioritize routes for people at risk (…).
Everything that can be done to give them access is important, ”insisted Professor Fontanet, recalling that there were“ other avenues ”than the platform.
Little information on Omicron
The epidemiologist also spoke about the very sharp increase in contamination, less than a month before the end of the year holidays.
"We should not bet everything on the booster dose" to contain this new wave, he said, still on LCI, simply because "the reinforcement of the sanitary pass, the wearing of the mask in a closed place, the teleworking… can have a very rapid impact, while the booster dose can take a little longer to slow the curve of the epidemic ”.
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Regarding the Omicron variant - a first case of which has just been detected in France - the epidemiologist recalled that the information was limited for the moment.
Only two elements have been established for the moment: it contains "a lot of mutations, some of which are associated with the possibility of greater transmission, this is one of the reasons why we are worried", commented Arnaud Fontanet.
The other known element is that South Africa "had relaxed its control measures".
👉 What do we know about the #Omicron variant?
🗣️ @ArnaudFontanet: "We have no certainty about its contagion. We will see in the coming weeks whether the current measures make it possible to slow down its progression."
📺 #LesMatinsLCI |
@EliMartichoux pic.twitter.com/aogCT2rxRp
- LCI (@LCI) December 2, 2021
The epidemiologist therefore believes that, since restrictions are already in place in Europe in the face of the Delta variant, the coming weeks will make it possible to know if "they will also make it possible to slow down Omicron".
It will, moreover, be necessary to wait between 15 days and three weeks to have the first results on the effectiveness of the vaccine against Omicron.
"This will be the first tangible information on the ability of this virus to escape the immune response provided by the vaccine," he concluded.
