Its high contagiousness left little room for doubt: the Omicron variant will soon supplant the Delta variant in France and elsewhere.
This variant of Covid-19, which seems to be spreading "extremely quickly", could experience "rapid growth" on the French territory and its impact will be felt "in the coming weeks", alerted the scientific council in its latest opinion published Monday.
The first information available on this variant of Sars-CoV-2 suggests that it could "circulate in Europe more quickly than initially planned by gradually replacing the Delta variant in the first weeks of 2022", underlines this notice dated December 8.
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"It is therefore essential to avoid, in the coming weeks, the appearance of giant clusters which would accelerate this dynamic", advocates the scientific council, which guides the government during the pandemic.
A few days before Christmas, major events "which could lead to giant clusters" must therefore "be avoided".
In France, in the scenario where transmission rates remain similar to those observed in November, the peak in hospital admissions could reach 2,350 hospital admissions per day if a maximum of 400,000 booster doses can be administered per day. day from December 1, also underlines the scientific council.
Moderna booster dose may be increased
"Even a slight reinforcement of barrier gestures, teleworking as well as a reduction in contacts can have a very significant impact on the health impact" of the current wave due to the Delta variant, according to the instance.
A collective effort which "would reduce the risk of having to implement more restrictive measures later".
For the start of the January school year, he also suggests a change in screening strategy at school: control through systematic screening "could be more effective, although operationally difficult, and would have the advantage of screening asymptomatic and presymptomatic ”.
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Nevertheless, "an explosion of Omicron cases could seriously degrade the projections", warns the Council.
Promoting a booster dose as soon as possible, he reminds us that crosses between different types of vaccines are possible.
The booster dose of Moderna is currently 50 micrograms.
"It could be increased in the coming weeks to 100 micrograms to induce a better immunological response vis-à-vis the Omicron variant", writes the scientific council.