Posted
Update
The waiting times for a third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine are still very long. Despite this, many French people refuse the Moderna vaccine, preferring the Pfizer.
In pharmacies as in vaccination centers, the Pfizer vaccine is more popular than Moderna. At the origin of this reluctance, some cases of myocarditis and pericarditis, inflammation of the heart. Although many studies put these risks into perspective, which are infrequent and without serious consequences until now, the gap is widening between the two vaccines: 85% of the doses of Pfizer were injected, against only 41% of Moderna.
While Moderna is now not recommended for those under 30, health professionals want to be reassuring. “People who refuse to be vaccinated with Moderna make a mistake and take the risk of catching a Covid”, explains Professor Mathieu Molimard, head of the medical pharmacology department of the Bordeaux University Hospital (Gironde), who ensures that “the Moderna vaccine is as effective and with no more risk as a booster than the Pfizer vaccine”. Doctors also recall that changing the vaccine for the booster dose is not dangerous.