(Paris) Vaccine recall from 18 years old and mandatory for the health passport to remain valid: the government is stepping up pressure on the unvaccinated to counter the fifth wave of the COVID-19 epidemic, without considering confinement at this stage .
The booster (most often a third dose) will be opened “from this Saturday” for all adults, five months after their last injection, announced Thursday the Minister of Health Olivier Véran.
This recall for the moment only concerned people over 65, people at risk of severe form and caregivers, and was done six months after the last injection and not five.
“You can already go to the online appointment booking platforms to book your slots,” added the minister during a press conference intended to detail the measures to combat the rebound in the economy. ‘epidemic.
From December 15 for those over 65 and from January 15 for those aged 18-64, the booster dose will be mandatory for the health pass to remain valid.
This does not mean that the injection must necessarily have been made before these dates, which simply correspond to the entry into force of the mechanism: it means that from these dates, the pass of these people will be deactivated if they do not have not had a booster dose at most 7 months after the last injection.
Masks
In the wake of these announcements, appointments have jumped, with a long waiting time on Doctolib.
“No stress, no panic: if the site saturates, it will be restored in the next few minutes or the next hours, we saw that every time there were announcements like these”, relativized the Minister of Health.
Additional constraint for the unvaccinated, the period of validity of negative tests giving rise to the right to the health pass will be reduced from 72 to 24 hours.
Beyond the vaccine, the authorities insist on the importance of barrier gestures to stem this wave described as dazzling: masks, ventilation, hand washing, etc.
The rules are also toughened. The mask will once again become compulsory “everywhere indoors” in places open to the public, including where the health pass is requested (restaurants, cinemas, nightclubs, etc.).
“The health pass and the mask, if that can save us the worst, let’s go! », Reacted to AFP Didier Chenet, president of GNI, the employers’ union of independent hotel and catering.
“Some prefects had taken orders in this direction in several departments and we had a drop in attendance of 60 to 70%. So this is the big concern, ”said Thierry Fontaine, president of Umih nuit, which represents nightclubs.
In contrast to these hardening, the Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, announced that there would be no more class closures in primary schools from the first case of COVID-19 detected in a student. Only those who test positive will be isolated.
“Our compass remains the priority of an open school,” said Blanquer, indicating that 8,500 classes were closed Wednesday, against 4,100 on November 19.
Children and vaccine
Ultimately, the other major change for primary school students could be the opening of vaccination, after the approval of Pfizer’s vaccine for 5-11 year olds by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
France is thinking about it and Olivier Véran has referred the matter to the National Ethics Committee (CCNE) as well as the High Authority for Health (HAS). “In any case, this vaccination, if it were decided in France, would not start before the beginning of the year 2022”, said the Minister of Health.
If this fifth wave is “undoubtedly stronger, longer than […] that of this summer “, it is not envisaged at this stage” neither containment, nor curfew, nor early closure of shops or travel restrictions “, tried to reassure Mr. Véran.
“It is no longer a question of locking up, it is no longer a question of using the methods that we had a year ago, when we did not have the vaccine”, for his part declared President Emmanuel Macron. , visiting Croatia.
The number of cases has been increasing very rapidly in France for several days, reaching 32,591 new contaminations on Wednesday, the highest since April 24.
For the moment, the surge in contamination is not accompanied by a surge in hospitalizations, despite an increase in recent days. The government blames this on a high vaccination rate compared to other European countries.