Anne-Claude Crémieux, professor of infectious diseases at Saint-Louis Hospital in Paris, member of the National Academy of Medicine, recalled Monday March 21 on franceinfo that the mask remained “a protection tool against all variants” when it has not been mandatory for a week. Contaminations are still on the rise with 90,000 cases of Covid-19 spotted every day, an increase of 36% in one week. The infectious disease specialist calls on vulnerable people to continue to wear the mask. “We have to be quick with this virus. We must not wait for it to get ahead. Wave by wave, we are gaining ground. Our objective today is not to lose any”she explained.
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franceinfo: Can the end of wearing a mask explain this rise in contamination?
Anne-Claude Cremieux: Yes it is certain. The circulation of viruses depends on three factors: the human factor, that is to say our interactions with or without a mask; it also depends on the viral factor, we have a variant that is a little more contagious, it’s the Omicron 2 variant; and finally, the third factor is the gradual decline in immunity, including after the booster. Here are the reasons for this rebound. Our essential challenge is to maintain a good level of protection against severe forms, to prevent this rebound in contamination from resulting in a rebound in hospitalization. And for that, there are two ways. There is the mask worn by the most vulnerable people. The mask is a protective tool against all variants. And then, monitor this decline in immunity against severe forms in the most fragile people.
The fourth dose is recommended for people over 80, but the High Authority for Health recommends it for people over 65. Is it necessary?
It was perfectly legitimate to start with the 80s. We know that these are the most at risk. These are the ones who got vaccinated in September. They are six months old. However, at six months, it drops. And finally, we know that for them, the Omicron variant, which is still kinder than the Delta variant, tends to be rather closer to the Delta variant, which means people who are very vulnerable to developing severe forms. So yes, for them, the fourth injection is perfectly justified. You have to be quick with this virus. Do not wait for him to get ahead. We have gained ground. From wave to wave, we are gaining ground. Our goal today is not to lose.
Hong Kong and South Korea are hit by an Omicron wave. Is this what awaits us?
Omicron causes serious forms in people who are not vaccinated. It’s certain. We have seen it. The last serious forms that we saw in our service were people who had not been vaccinated, who were in intensive care. And that’s why keeping your vaccinations up to date is absolutely essential. You know, in Hong Kong, only half of the people over 70 had an up-to-date vaccination.
“We can clearly see that Omicron is less severe than Delta, but on an immunized population.”
Anne-Claude Crémieux, infectiologistat franceinfo
Let’s keep this protection, this vaccine shield.
Can we hope for a vaccine against Omicron?
A specific vaccine against Omicron is not very interesting. Why ? Because it causes protection only against Omicron. What we want is to have protection that is broad against a large number of variants. So it won’t be an Omicron vaccine alone. We hope to probably have a vaccine that is with several strains, since we especially hope that one day we will have a vaccine whose protection will be more durable.