The Covid-19 vaccination campaign starts this Monday, two weeks in advance. “The vaccine works on current variants,” reassures the president of the Committee for Monitoring and Anticipation of Health Risks.
The coronavirus “remains unpredictable” And “dangerous”, warns Monday October 2 on franceinfo Brigitte Autran, president of the Committee for Monitoring and Anticipation of Health Risks (Covars), as the vaccination campaign begins, two weeks ahead of the initial program. She explains that this change of date was decided “because the Covid-19 epidemic has started again earlier than expected”but she maintains as far as we “did not let himself be surprised” by this epidemic resumption.
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franceinfo: Why was this vaccination campaign brought forward by two weeks?
Brigitte Autran: Because the Covid-19 epidemic has started again a little earlier than expected. The first cases were observed during the summer and gradually increased in September. We were not surprised, the virus has simply not yet acquired a seasonality which is the same as that of the flu. It remains unpredictable, that’s no surprise. We knew we would have surprises. It arrived earlier than expected, which means it is still circulating. There was therefore no reason to wait any longer to start vaccinating.
Do you think the coronavirus remains dangerous?
It remains dangerous, of course, because there are still people hospitalized and in intensive care. These are always the most fragile people, those who have risk factors, immune deficiencies, those who are significantly overweight and the very elderly. These are the ones that absolutely must be protected by vaccinating them. A voucher is sent by the Cnam to receive a vaccination; but anyone who wants to be vaccinated, if they do not have these risk factors, can also do so.
“We particularly encourage the most vulnerable people to be vaccinated as quickly as possible”
Brigitte Autran, president of Covarsat franceinfo
If you live around a fragile person, it is also particularly recommended to be vaccinated to protect others, the same for caregivers. This vaccine will protect you from serious forms and also from infection. Protection against infection is less good than it was at the very beginning of vaccination, but on the other hand protection against severe forms remains excellent. By protecting yourself, you will avoid going to the hospital and you will avoid serious forms of Covid.
Do vaccines protect against new variants?
Yes quite. We know that there is a majority Eris variant (or EG 5) which corresponds to the vaccine which was prepared for this fall. It is therefore particularly recommended to be vaccinated with this messenger RNA vaccine. It is also the only one distributed today. The one from last year is no longer used, because it would not work on the variant circulating today. There will be a protein-based vaccine soon, probably at the end of November. Another variant concerned us a fortnight ago, the Pirola (or BA.2.86), which has a lot of mutations. We feared that he would be a little less sensitive to the vaccine, in fact, he is too. The vaccine therefore works on current variants.