The government has decided to extend the administration of a second booster dose of anti-Covid vaccine to pregnant women, people under 60 “at risk” and those living in the entourage of fragile people.
Following the advice of the scientific authorities (Haute Autorité de santé and the Vaccine Strategy Guidance Council), it took this decision in an “epidemiological context which remains worrying, with highly contagious variants”, explained the Ministry of Health on Wednesday. health.
Five million people affected
The government has decided to extend the second reminder “from now on to adults aged 18 to 60 identified as being at risk of a severe form of Covid-19, to pregnant women and to people living in the entourage of vulnerable people or immunocompromised”, he detailed in a press briefing.
This extension concerns around five million people, which brings the number of French people eligible for this second booster dose to around 17 million. Until now, only those over 60 and immunocompromised people had access to it, or some 12 million eligible people. Of these, about four million have received a second booster.
Three months after the 1st reminder
This additional booster dose is possible from three months after the 1st booster for the most fragile (over 80 years old, nursing home residents, severely immunocompromised). For others, it can be administered six months after the first booster.
Asked whether the government planned to offer a second reminder to the entire population in the fall, the ministry replied “clearly no”. “Today, there is no likely scenario that would extend the second recall to everyone, although we must remain cautious,” he said.
He also delivered the figures for vaccinations with the vaccine from the American laboratory Novavax, based on classic technology. “We expected significant figures, this is not what we observed,” conceded the ministry. “Only 28,000 doses of this vaccine have been injected since March, it is very few but it remains a useful vaccine”, he judged.