While France is in the midst of the fifth epidemic wave of Covid-19, the first year students of the Hautil high school in Jouy-le-Moutier (Val-d’Oise) are wondering about the information circulating on the Covid- 19 and on vaccines. Mathieu Molimard, head of the medical pharmacology department at the Bordeaux University Hospital, answers to their questions.
“Is it true that there are more vaccinated than unvaccinated patients in the hospital?“wonders Anaïs.
This is true and the more people there are vaccinated, the greater this gap will be. “And when we have 100% vaccinated, there will only be vaccinated in the hospital“, adds Mathieu Molimard. To fully understand the figures for hospitalizations of vaccinated and non-vaccinated in France, it is necessary to take similar samples, that is to say the share of non-vaccinated hospitalized compared to all non-vaccinated and ditto for those who are not vaccinated. vaccinated.
According to Mathieu Molimard, “today, unvaccinated people represent about 10% of the population eligible for vaccination and at the same time, they represent 41% of hospitalizations, 50% of people in intensive care and 41% of deaths.” So in proportion to all the unvaccinated, those who are hospitalized are very largely over-represented compared to vaccinated patients.
“Is it true that those under 45 are more likely to die from the side effects of the vaccine than from Covid-19 itself?“, Keza and Taïna ask us.
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It’s wrong. “Messenger RNA vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna, caused no deaths“, recalls Mathieu Molimard.
The head of the medical pharmacology department at the Bordeaux University Hospital nevertheless specifies that “Lhe adenovirus vaccines, Astrazeneca and Janssen, which are no longer used for children under 55 in the first dose and which are no longer used at all for booster doses, have indeed caused a few rare cases of very atypical thrombosis“, which led to 13 deaths out of the 8.8 million injections performed.
On the other hand, since the start of the pandemic, Covid-19 has caused 120,000 deaths.
Tristan, Matthias, Marius and Chady wonder “whether it is true that covid lowers IQ several months after having it?“
For Mathieu Molimard, “IQ drops of 2 to 7 points have been described in a publication, but we do not know if it is transient, if it is linked to fatigue which can be prolonged after illness.“So it is a phenomenon that is monitored. On the other hand, there are other effects of Covid-19 and of the” long-term Covid “on health, on the long term, which are well known:”such as pulmonary damage, or sequelae due to resuscitation“, notes Mathieu Molimard.
“Is it true that there is a pill against Covid-19?asks Reagges.
There are two antivirals that are being registered, but according to Mathieu Molimard, “do not expect miracle drugs“. According to the pharmacology specialist,”there are not yet all the elements to judge their real effectiveness, but we already know some of their risks, such as possible malformations in fetuses or interactions with other drugs.“
Mathieu Molimard also specifies that if these antivirals are registered, “they will initially be reserved for the most at-risk patients“The vaccine therefore remains the most effective way to protect yourself against Covid-19.
To conclude Mathieu Molimard had one last message to send to adolescents eligible for vaccination: “Those for whom there are still doubts about vaccination, there is no doubt, the facts are stubborn. The vaccine has an extraordinary benefit for excessively little risk, in any case much less risk than the disease. And you should not listen to anti-vax speeches and go for information on reliable sites such as the site of the French Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutics. “