Sixty-four children are currently in intensive care in France because of a serious form of Covid-19, a sharply increasing figure, Minister of Health Olivier Véran told MEPs on Tuesday.
"Tonight there are 64 children hospitalized in pediatric intensive care for a serious Covid, this is twice the maximum recorded in November or December with 30 children on a given day," he said during the debate on the bill establishing the vaccination pass.
Responding to many questions from deputies on the figures of the pandemic concerning children, he stressed that since the start of the health crisis 28 deaths of minors had been recorded - 13 from 0 to 9 years old and 15 from 10 to 18 years old - .
Deaths linked to Covid
Three of these deaths are "formally attributable" to the Covid, the 25 others having "a potential link but which is not proven" with the Covid, said the minister.
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"The risks for a child to present a severe form are very low, but there are some", added Olivier Véran.
He underlined that the available studies, in particular American ones, showed "that a vaccinated child has much less risk of developing a serious form" of the disease.
The deputies decided on Tuesday, at the first reading of the bill, to set the age for the vaccination pass at 16 years, against 12 years in the initial project, a change validated by Olivier Véran.