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Covid-19: Alain Fischer wants to "remove the mask at the end of the summer"

2021-05-08T19:02:39.469Z


The “Mr. vaccine” also explains that the virus has “very little chance” of disappearing and that the need for an annual vaccination booster remains the most likely scenario.


Vaccinating, again and again, is

Alain Fischer's

obsession

”.

While the epidemic has finally started to decline in France, the head of the French vaccine strategy is optimistic about the abandonment of the mask by the end of the summer, when the majority of the population will be immune.

In an interview with

Le Parisien

, he also urges young people to be patient, reaffirming the priority given to the elderly and vulnerable.

Childhood vaccination will not be considered until the fall.

To discover

  • Covid-19: instructions for use of self-tests

  • "

    The objective: to drop the mask at the end of the summer

    "

As summer looms, the French are wondering about their next vacation. Will they be able to leave? If so, where? "

A health passport and not just a vaccine will be put in place,

" said Alain Fischer. “

It will give you the right to travel if you are vaccinated, have had the disease in the past, or have a negative test. And I certainly hope that there will be a common passport for all of Europe!

".

As for the barrier gestures, they would remain in force for a few more months according to the doctor.

The goal: to drop the mask at the end of the summer!

“, He said, recalling the two essential pillars to get out of the epidemic: vaccination and physical and distancing measures.

If everyone has their own;

from policies to health professionals to the population, this should be achieved

”.

  • The probability of eradication of the virus "

    almost zero

    "

Despite the promise of a return to normal life, the doctor explained that the virus will never go away completely. “

The probability of eradication is almost zero. In modern microbiological history, the only virus eradicated, after colossal vaccination efforts, is smallpox. The most likely hypothesis is (...) that it behaves like other coronaviruses, giving us simple colds

”. In this context, the need for an annual vaccination booster remains the “

most probable scenario

”, “

even if it will be necessary to wait a little longer

” to be fixed on the duration of effectiveness of the vaccines. "

The first data from Pfizer and Moderna show that they are still effective after six months

",he assured.

  • Insufficient doses for young people

May 10 for those over 50, June 15 for those over 18 ... Wouldn't young people be the big ones forgotten on this calendar?

In an ideal world, we would have had to vaccinate everyone right away.

The reality is that there were not enough doses

", acknowledged the president of the Steering Committee for the anti-Covid-19 vaccine strategy, specifying that vaccinating young people would be"

at the expense of the most vulnerable people

".

To read also: Vaccination "without age limit": how to make an appointment from May 12

"

The most important current issue

", according to the professor, is the will to be vaccinated, when just over half of 18-34 year olds have said they are ready to be vaccinated.

"

I think that at your age, we listen more to a friend than the President of the Republic or even less to a doctor like me

", he declared, announcing that when the time comes, "

spots will be dedicated to the youngest

To encourage their comrades

.

The goal is to get actors, rappers, athletes talking

”.

Read also: Football - Mbappé in a campaign to encourage young people to be vaccinated?

  • Vaccination for children discussed "

    this fall

    "

For young people under the age of 18, the time has come to be patient.

Last Thursday, vaccination from 16 years old was authorized with Pfizer

,

"

but this concerns adolescents at high risk of severe form of Covid

", recalls the former pediatrician at Necker hospital, specifying that, if diabetes is an indisputable aggravating factor, others are given priority, such as an organ transplant, heavy chemotherapy, certain rare genetic diseases.

For non-priority people, what will the deadline be?

A "

glue

" for the doctor, who simply wanted it to be "

as quickly as possible

".

Read also: Vaccines: Pfizer and Moderna post excellent financial results

As for the vaccination of children, now authorized in Canada and envisaged in the United States from the age of 12, the doctor said he was in favor "

in principle

".

If for sick children, such as "

transplant

patients

or Down's syndrome

", vaccination must be done "

as quickly as possible

", the others will have to wait for their side "

this fall

" for the issue to be resolved.

"

What must be checked is safety,

" he said, recalling the "

very, very low

"

risk

of severe form of Covid-19 for this age group.

  • A "

    fantastically positive benefit-risk ratio

    " for AstraZeneca

While the government is faced with generalized mistrust of the Anglo-Swedish vaccine for its potential side effects, Alain Fischer vouched for the effectiveness of AstraZeneca: “

Today we have vaccines that have more than 90 % of success, when those of the flu do not exceed 50%. In one year, it's extraordinary,

”he said. "

For those over 55, this vaccine has a fantastically positive benefit-risk ratio

." In this case, is it possible to choose your vaccine and give preference to Pfizer? “

At the collective level, if we gave people the option of not using it, it would delay the vaccination campaign.

», Refuted the doctor.

People over 55 will therefore have no choice: favoring Pfizer to the detriment of the Anglo-Swedish vaccine would amount to “

losing lives

”.

  • Patent lifting: “

    I am in favor!

    "

Since the United States declared itself in favor on Wednesday, the lifting of patents to expand access to vaccines, the debate has stirred the international scene. For his part, Alain Fischer says he is "

favorable

" to this idea, "

symbolically first, but above all ethically

". "

It is also in our interest, because if the disease were to persist with large outbreaks, as currently in India or Brazil, new variants could emerge and strike us in return

". However, this solution would be "

not magic

" according to the "

Mr. vaccine

" of the government. "

Even if the patents were lifted to allow poor countries to produce vaccines, more people would have to be trained, new factories built, and above all equipment in quantities already limited on a global scale

, ”he explained. .

  • Faced with new variants, manufacturers are "

    preparing

    "

The specialist in immunology wanted to be reassuring about the Indian variant, refuting any "

direct link between its appearance and the seriousness of the current situation

" in the Asian state.

On its resistance to vaccines, "

there is still a lack of data

" he said, although it "

seems to closely resemble the South African and Brazilian variants, whose resistance to vaccination does not cause much concern.

".

Read also: Covid-19: does the Indian variant spare France?

Should we fear new vaccine-resistant mutants? "

If this were the case, manufacturers are already preparing with vaccines no longer based on the genetic code of the initial virus, but on that of one of its mutants

". "

The good news is that messenger RNA vaccines can adapt very quickly, in a few weeks,

" reassured Alain Fischer.

Source: lefigaro

All tech articles on 2021-05-08

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