As an air of deja vu: Covid-19 contaminations have accelerated in recent days in France after a recovery started in early September, but with still uncertain consequences in the hospital, according to Public Health France in a point published Thursday evening on the period from September 12 to 18.
A report which comes as a new stage in anti-Covid vaccination in France has been reached: the High Authority for Health gave the green light on Tuesday to three latest generation vaccines, adapted to Omicron, for a new recall campaign at autumn, coupled with that against the flu.
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These new latest generation vaccines adapted to Omicron variants have been developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna : millions of doses have already been delivered across France, in particular to referral hospitals which then deliver to towns and vaccination centres. Thus, five million doses suitable for Omicron’s BA1 sub-variant have already been delivered. Against the virus that circulates the most, BA5, five million doses must also be available by the end of September 2022, to reach more than 12 million in October and November.
Enough to ensure the recall campaign for those most at risk. Because the objective of these bivalent vaccines is clear: coupled with a vaccination against influenza, this injection would aim to protect the people most at risk of developing serious forms of Covid-19, their relatives and some professions in the medico-social sector, particularly exposed to the virus.
And although these serums have been approved on an emergency basis, without waiting for the results of the clinical study, this is nothing to worry about, according to the director of vaccines at Pfizer France, David Lepoittevin. “We should not necessarily panic since we are on a vaccine which is an adaptation of the original vaccine. Simply, what we have modified is a part of the sequence in order to adapt to the variant which is circulating in the most important way at the moment. Overall, the vaccine remains the same, there is a small adaptation, which greatly guarantees its safety”, he says to franceinfo.
For its part, the HAS regrets the absence of clinical data on the latest product from Pfizer, which is currently in the trial phase. The laboratory will share its data with the health authorities in real time. Finally, it should be noted that orders from the Sanofi (monovalent Beta) and Spanish Hipra (bivalent Alpha-Beta) laboratories, whose vaccines are still being studied by the European Medicines Agency, have also been placed, but are not expected. before the end of the year, according to the Directorate General of Health.