A
fourth vaccine
against Covid-19 should soon be available in Europe.
"
Beginning of March
" according to Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the Minister for Industry.
The vaccine from the American group Johnson & Johnson, authorized in the United States on February 27, has great advantages.
It can be stored at a temperature close to that of a refrigerator and requires only one injection.
According to the first results of its clinical trials, it is 66% and 85% effective against severe forms of the disease.
In France, it could be deployed from the end of March or early April.
Today, France has three vaccines against Covid-19.
Those from Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna, which are difficult to store, are available in vaccination centers.
The
AstraZeneca vaccine
is stored in conventional refrigerators.
Since February 25, it can be administered by general practitioners in their practice or by company doctors in the workplace.
It is reserved for nursing staff and people aged 50 to 64 with co-morbidities.
Read also: Covid-19: general practitioners engage in the battle for vaccination in the city
In
Israel
, where half the population has already received a first dose of the vaccine, a large-scale study has confirmed the very high efficacy of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine.
The authors show that vaccination reduced symptomatic cases of Covid-19 by 94%, severe cases of the disease by 92%, and hospitalizations by 87%.
Also read: Why Pfizer's vaccine should remain highly effective against all current variants
Also a good pupil of the Covid-19 vaccination,
the United Kingdom
has announced that it has injected more than 20 million first doses of the anti-Covid vaccine.
On the other hand, the number of people who received the two doses is lower than in France, it amounts to 796,132.
In this regularly updated article,
Le Figaro
offers you a full update on vaccines and the vaccination campaign in France:
Where is the vaccination campaign?
Who can get vaccinated and when?
Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca… What vaccines are available against Covid-19?
Messenger RNA, viral vector, attenuated virus ... What types of vaccine?
Why get vaccinated?
Should we fear side effects?
1. Where is the vaccination campaign?
Caregivers over 50 were able to get vaccinated, here in a gymnasium in Taverny in Ile-de-France.
BENOIT TESSIER / REUTERS
In France.
As of February 27, 2021, 2,967,937 people
among priority audiences have received a first dose of vaccine in France, according to the CovidTracker site.
1,582,433 people
received the two necessary injections and are therefore vaccinated.
The government predicts that by the end of March 8 million people will have received a first dose.
At the end of August, according to the government, all French people who wish will be vaccinated.
To read also: Covid-19: where is the vaccination in your department?
Israel dominates the ranking of countries most advanced in vaccination against Covid-19.
Le Figaro
In the world
.
In relation to the size of the population,
it is Israel that leads the vaccination race by far
ahead of the United Arab Emirates, the Seychelles and the United Kingdom.
France, which was far behind its European neighbors in terms of the number of vaccinations compared to the population, is catching up but remains at the bottom of the most advanced countries.
In general, with a few exceptions, the percentage of the population vaccinated is still very low all over the world.
Read also: Has France become the country that vaccinates the most in Europe?
2. Who can get vaccinated and when?
The vaccination campaign will follow a three-phase schedule.
BENOIT TESSIER / REUTERS
How's it going?
Vaccination against Covid-19 is done in two stages: a first intramuscular injection in the arm, followed by a second after a period of three to four weeks.
• Since the end of
December
France has been in the
first phase of the vaccination campaign
.
After the residents of nursing homes vaccinated as a priority, the staff of establishments welcoming the elderly, caregivers and firefighters over 50 years or frail can benefit from the vaccine.
Since
January 18,
people over the age of 75 but also people "
with pathologies leading to a very high risk of a severe form of the disease
" (severe chronic renal failure, people with organ transplants, people with Down's syndrome). 21, advanced cancer ....), regardless of their age, have the possibility to be vaccinated by appointment in one
of the vaccination centers
open throughout the country.
This potentially affects 6.4 million people.
Read also: Covid-19: who can be vaccinated, where, by whom and with what product?
Registration
is done via the national number
0800 009 110
or by directly calling a vaccination center referenced on sante.fr.
Or by using online medical appointment
booking
platforms -
Doctolib
,
Maiia
and
Keldoc
.
More details in our article:
Read also: Covid-19: how to make an appointment to be vaccinated?
• As soon as possible
, the
second phase
of the vaccination campaign (14 million people) will target French people aged 65 to 74 living at home.
• Finally
in the third quarter of 2021
, the
third phase
extends vaccination firstly to people over 50, then to professionals in sectors essential to the functioning of the country, to vulnerable and precarious people and finally to the rest of the adult population.
The
children and adolescents
are therefore not affected by the vaccination Covid-19.
Should you be vaccinated if you have already had the Covid?
According to the High Authority for Health, there is no need to systematically vaccinate people who have already developed a symptomatic form of Covid-19.
They can however benefit from it with the agreement of their doctor and after a minimum period of 3 months from the onset of symptoms and a recommended period of 6 months.
In its last opinion published on February 12, 2021, the HAS recommends in these cases the use of a single dose of vaccine.
SEE ALSO -
Emmanuel Macron provides a vaccine to "all French people who want it" by the "end of summer"
3. Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca… What vaccines are available against Covid-19?
AstraZeneca vaccine can be stored in a regular refrigerator.
JOE GIDDENS / AFP
WHO has currently identified 63 candidate vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 in clinical trials in humans around the world.
Of these, 16 have already reached phase 3, where the efficacy of the vaccine is being measured on a large scale.
In Europe, three
vaccines
have so far been authorized by the European Commission after a favorable opinion from the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
That of the German-American
Pfizer / BioNTech
on December 21, that of the American
Moderna
on January 6.
A third vaccine, that of the Swedish-British
Astra-Zeneca / Oxford
was approved on January 29 by the EMA.
They immediately obtained marketing authorization from the French National Authority for Health.
Another vaccine is being evaluated by the EMA: the American
Johnson & Johnson / Janssen
.
It could be approved in early March.
The German vaccine CureVac has not yet been submitted to the EMA and the only French vaccine, developed by Sanofi and GSK, would not be available until the last quarter of 2021.
In total,
the European Union has concluded seven contracts
with Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, CureVac and most recently Valneva,
for a total of 2.5 billion doses
.
And an eighth agreement (with Novavax) is on track.
Enough to vaccinate the entire European population.
France has 15% of European vaccine pre-orders, or ultimately
more than 200 million doses
according to the Ministry of Health.
So far, France has more than 4.5 million doses of the anti-Covid vaccine.
Read also: Covid-19: will we be able to choose our vaccine?
4. Messenger RNA, viral vector, attenuated virus ... What types of vaccine?
The vaccines developed against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus use different techniques.
Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines:
These are those from Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna and CureVac.
For the first two already on the market, the announced efficiency rate is 95 and 94%.
This very recent technology uses fragments of RNA from the virus which, once in the body's cells, will make them manufacture viral proteins which will trigger the immune reaction.
This RNA is then quickly eliminated by the body and never enters the nucleus of the cell and has no effect on the genome, specifies the Ministry of Health.
Disadvantage?
They can only be stored long term at very low temperature (-70 ° Celsius for the first, -20 ° C for the second).
Read also: Covid: Can RNA Vaccines Modify Our DNA?
The
"
inactivated vaccines
"
and
"
live attenuated vaccines
": This is the most common method already used for influenza, rubella or measles and developed against the 19-Covid by Chinese Sinovac and Sinopharm.
These vaccines are based on an injection of the whole virus previously rendered harmless in order to trigger an immune response in the event of infection.
Vaccines with a
“
non-replicating viral vector
”
:
These are those of AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.
A harmless virus is used to transport the genetic material of the coronavirus, making the protein that will trigger an immune response.
While doubts remain about the effectiveness of AstraZeneca vaccine, it has the advantage of being stored at refrigerator temperature, between two and eight degrees Celsius.
Read also: Covid-19: unanswered questions about the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine formula
The vaccine developed by Sanofi Pasteur with the English GSK is based on the
recombinant protein
method
.
We do not present the whole virus, but fragments of its envelope or its envelope emptied of the virus.
Vaccines against hepatitis B or papillomavirus are made using this method.
To read also: Price, conservation, effectiveness ... The article to know everything about the different vaccines
5. Why get vaccinated?
Vaccination against Covid-19, which is
free
in France, is
not compulsory
.
The goal of the campaign determined by the Ministry of Health is
to reduce the number of severe forms of COVID-19
.
The second more uncertain goal is to reduce the risk of transmission of the virus from person to person.
However, if the vaccine protects against a "
deep
"
infection
, the virus can eventually be transmitted, without causing any symptoms other than a mild cold.
Contagiousness will therefore be lower but not eliminated.
Respect for barrier gestures therefore remains essential pending collective immunity which would not be attainable in 2021 according to the WHO.
For the moment, the government has ruled out the principle of a “vaccination passport” which would allow vaccinated people to access certain services or places.
Read also: Should or not be vaccinated against Covid?
A short guide for the undecided
According to an Odoxa-Backbone Consulting survey for
Le Figaro
and
Franceinfo
, a majority of French people (61%) now want to be protected against Covid-19.
They were 42% before Christmas and the start of the vaccination campaign.
6. Should we fear side effects?
The side effects associated with the anti-Covid vaccines authorized in France
are mainly mild to moderate
: pain at the point of entry of the injection, chills, fevers or headaches.
However, rare cases of serious allergic reactions
have been reported during clinical trials and the first few weeks of vaccination.
Only
one in 100,000 people get
the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine according to US health officials.
While the
benefit / risk ratio is not called into question
for the general population, the High Authority for Health has therefore decided not to recommend vaccination "
to people who have presented serious allergic manifestations such as anaphylactic reactions
".
The vaccine is of course contraindicated in the event of hypersensitivity to the active substance or to one of its excipients.
The National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health
Products (ANSM) has set up a specific reinforced monitoring system for the adverse effects of anti-Covid-19 vaccines on French territory.
On signalement-sante.gouv.fr, health professionals and users can report any adverse effects following vaccination.
According to its latest update on February 26, 5,331 cases of adverse effects have been analyzed for the Comirnaty vaccine from Pfizer / BioNTech.
The majority are non-serious and more frequent after the injection of the second dose.
148 cases of adverse effects were analyzed for the Moderna vaccine.
Finally, since the start of the vaccination of health workers on February 6 with the AstraZeneca vaccine, 971 cases of adverse effects have been analyzed.
The vast majority of these cases concern flu-like symptoms, often of high intensity.
SEE ALSO -
What are the side effects of Covid-19 vaccines?
Read also: Vaccines: few serious side effects