I’incidence of consultations with the doctor for flu-like syndromes jumped 95% in one week, according to Public Health France.
Article written by
Published
Update
Reading time : 1 min.
You may have been surprised in recent days to experience all the symptoms of Covid-19 but to be negative. You probably have the flu making a surprise comeback. All age groups, all regions are concerned. Only Corsica escapes this late epidemic.
Usually, the peak of the flu epidemic occurs rather in February. As with Covid-19, this is partly explained by the relaxation of barrier gestures in recent weeks. Especially since last year, the flu virus circulated little. The French are less collectively immune. It should however be noted that we are still below the contamination levels of winter 2020. Two years ago to the day, on March 17, 2020, France had just been confined. We had therefore experienced an almost normal flu season which was very quickly overshadowed by the Covid-19.
More than half of those at risk, especially those over 65, had been vaccinated against the flu before the end of December. This is a little more than before the health crisis. Antibodies usually last six to eight months. The vaccinated are still partially protected but be careful, the flu vaccine is far from being an absolute shield because its effectiveness rate varies from 40 to 60%. Fragile people therefore have an interest more than ever in respecting barrier gestures to also protect themselves from the flu. In addition, it is still possible to be vaccinated but without delay. And you will have to pay ten euros, there is no longer any reimbursement from health insurance because the vaccination campaign is over.
Several laboratories Sanofi, Pfizer, Moderna, CureVac are working on messenger RNA flu vaccines, which would be more effective. This technique would make it easier to adapt the vaccine to the emergence of influenza virus strains. This type of vaccine will probably not be on the market for two or three years because it will be necessary to a priori four different messenger RNAs in the vaccine mixture and not just one to obtain an effective injection against the flu. Technically, it’s not that simple.