The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine will not be made available in the short term in doctors' offices in France, even if its storage conditions have been relaxed at the European level, the Ministry of Health said on Tuesday.
Read also: Covid-19: Pfizer and Moderna's vaccines should remain effective against the Indian variant, according to a study
On Monday, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) extended the period during which this vaccine against Covid-19 can remain in a simple refrigerator (one month against five days previously). Its long-term storage requires much lower temperatures, which makes it less easy to deploy than other vaccines. "
For now, it does not change anything
" and this vaccine remains reserved in France for vaccination centers, said Tuesday the Ministry of Health during a weekly update on the vaccination campaign.
“
What this allows is to keep the vaccine longer. But the objective is to use the doses as quickly as possible,
”adds the same source. "
Ultimately, we can consider different organizations, when there will be less pressure on rapid vaccination
," said the ministry.
Four vaccines are available in France: Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna (based on the same technology, messenger RNA, considered the most effective), AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson (also called Janssen). Only the last two are currently used outside vaccination centers, by doctors, pharmacists and nurses. For Moderna, this will be the case from next week. "
What doctors want, to have access to messenger RNA vaccines, is a wish that is met with doses of Moderna,
" said the ministry. "City
professionals will have a messenger RNA vaccine, but other vaccines, including Johnson & Johnson
,
should not be crushed,
" the same source continues.
Especially since the latest figures confirm the public's disaffection with AstraZeneca's vaccine, reserved for over 55s because of the extremely rare risks of serious thrombosis. Sunday evening, the rate of use of the doses available in France was 92% for Pfizer / BioNTech, 88% for Moderna, but only 56% for AstraZeneca. For Johnson & Johnson, which requires a single dose, this rate is around 30%, but the ministry explains it by the fact that its arrival in France is much more recent.
