A few days before the end-of-year holidays, vaccination coverage is insufficient according to health authorities.
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A few days before the end-of-year holidays, vaccination coverage against Covid is insufficient. According to health authorities, only a quarter of vulnerable people have protected themselves, mainly those over 65. Flu vaccination has also fallen behind last year, while both epidemics are on the rise.
Nearly 500,000 people, among the most vulnerable, did not get vaccinated against the flu compared to last year. This could be explained by the accumulation of vaccination campaigns according to Philippe Besset, president of the federation of pharmacists’ unions.
“I think it is vaccine fatigue which is the main cause of this drop in vaccination, he confirms. Perhaps also the double flu vaccination is a little complex to explain. When we have a little more than 500,000 fewer vaccines compared to last year, that’s roughly 1,000 more hospitalizations, and therefore potentially 300 to 400 deaths among people at risk.
Five regions in influenza epidemic phase
The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Grand Est and Occitanie regions have entered the flu epidemic phase, in addition to the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) region already affected since December 13. This explains the small rebound in vaccination observed in recent days by Sandra in her Parisian pharmacy. “There have been a few more requests for around ten days already, because there are a few cases that are appearing, analyzes Sandra. It’s also because the holidays are approaching. People usually come on their own. But they still received the letter from Social Security which gave them a little reminder to order.”
The good news, health professionals believe, is that there are more double Covid and flu injections than last year.
