Olivier Véran, Minister of Solidarity and Health was the guest of “8:30 am franceinfo”, Friday December 3, 2021. Omicron variant, 5th wave, vaccination of children, number of trained caregivers … He answers questions from Lorrain Sénéchal and Neila Latrous.
Omicron variant: no “excessive severity compared to the Delta variant”
“The first signals coming to us from southern Africa do not seem to show an excessive severity of the cases compared to the Delta variant”, declares Olivier Véran, concerning the Omicron variant of which “9 cases have been confirmed in at least five different regions” in France. According to him, this new variant “is clearly at least as contagious as the Delta”, even if “we still do not know the health consequences”.
“Our action aims to protect the French from all variants, the emergency is the 5th wave, it is the Delta variant which is very contagious and whose capacity for nuisance we know, but the emergency is also to curb the spread of the Omicron variant “, indicates the Minister of Health. A variant which “has probably been in circulation for several weeks”.
5th wave: a peak expected “at the end of January”
“In France, currently, a patient is admitted to intensive care every ten minutes, day and night”, says Olivier Véran. “The 5th wave linked to the Delta variant rises quickly, we are well beyond the 4th wave and we are even reaching the peak of the 3rd wave”, he continues, evaluating the peak of this 5th wave from here “at the end of January”, “if nothing changes”.
Based on forecasts from the Institut Pasteur, the Minister of Health estimates that “we could be at 3,000 Covid patients in intensive care within ten days”. “This implies a significant health burden for our hospitals, with the first white plans and the first deprogramming”, he continued. “But what the Institut Pasteur models also tell us is that there are two fundamental parameters that can profoundly change this situation”, nuance Olivier Véran, in reference to the booster vaccination and barrier gestures.
“Vaccination undoubtedly open” to the most fragile children at the end of December
Regarding the vaccination of fragile children, “who suffer from comorbidities”, Olivier Véran indicates that “we could open it between mid-December and the end of December”, effective upon receipt of pediatric doses of Pfizer vaccine. “The vaccination will undoubtedly be open to them, the decision has not been formally taken but there is no reason not to do so”, he adds.
“For children aged 5 to 11, who are not at risk of serious forms, the Haute Autorité de Santé has not yet pronounced, it needs a little more time to tell us if the vaccine is perfectly safe and efficient “, specifies Olivier Véran according to whom everything will depend on “if the risk-benefit balance is positive”. If this is the case, the vaccination will be open to all children aged 5 to 11, “probably at the beginning of January, gradually and on an optional basis”.
Pécresse “rather responsible” for the deficit of trained caregivers
Valérie Pécresse promises, if she is elected, to really remove the numerus clausus in medical studies, to train more caregivers. “She is rather responsible for the cause that she denounces today”, replies Olivier Véran. “When she was Minister in charge of Universities, between 2007 and 2011, she had control of the numerus clausus, and she did not touch it”, criticizes the current Minister of Health.
Find the entire “8h30 franceinfo” of Friday, December 3, 2021: