To convince people wary of messenger RNA sera to get vaccinated, Switzerland announced on Wednesday that it would buy doses of the Janssen coronavirus vaccine. “The Confederation buys 150,000 doses of vaccine from @JanssenGlobal. The viral vector vaccine will be delivered this week and distributed to the townships next week. It is intended for people who cannot or do not want to be vaccinated with an mRNA vaccine, ”tweeted Federal Councilor (Minister) in charge of Health Alain Berset.
A little more than half of the Swiss vaccinated
Switzerland, where the anti-tax and anti-health pass movement manages to regularly mobilize several thousand people in demonstrations across the country, has a vaccination rate markedly lower than that of its large neighbors. And this, despite the obligation to show his vaccination certificate to go to a restaurant or a show for example.
As of September 27, almost 58% of the population of vaccine age (12 years and above) had received the required two doses of Moderna or Pfizer-Biontech vaccine, according to figures from the Ministry of Health. By comparison, the rate is almost 73% in France and a little over 71% in Germany. The two vaccines currently available in Switzerland, Moderna and Pfizer-Biontech, are based on messenger RNA, a technology known for a long time but implemented in a vaccine for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic. It has aroused unfounded fears of the risk of genetic modification of the person injected.
A viral vector vaccine
A share of 10 to 12% of people do not want the mRNA vaccine, which represents around 260,000 people in Switzerland, said Virginie Masserey, head of the infection control section of the Ministry of Health (OFSP) during a briefing. She also stressed that the rate of vaccination in the country remains too slow.
The Janssen vaccine from the American laboratory Johnson & Johnson uses a more traditional technique, called a viral vector. It only requires one dose but is less effective against the Delta variant of the virus, dominant in Switzerland. According to Christoph Berger, the chairman of the Federal Commission for Vaccinations, only around 100 people in Switzerland have allergy risks justifying a non-mRNA vaccine.