Each week its announcements. Faced with the fifth wave of coronavirus resulting in
40,000 cases per day, the government chose to bet on the recall campaign.
Now open to all adults, it allows everyone to receive a new dose five months after their last injection. As long as you understand the recommendations and find a niche … To find your way around, 20 minutes has collected and answered your questions.
Rémy: “It takes five months for the booster dose, but what is the maximum time to get this dose? I had my 2nd dose on July 30th. On December 30, if I don’t have my dose, my pass is no longer valid? “
All French adults can take their booster dose five months after their last dose. But their health pass will remain valid for up to seven months after the last injection. In Rémy’s case, he will be able to take his third dose from December 30, but his pass will remain valid until February 28. If you have any doubts, the Health Insurance has put a new service online, called “My Covid Vaccine reminder”. It allows you to calculate the date of your reminder and the date on which the validity of your health pass will end if it is not carried out.
Caroline: “From the third dose, the pass becomes valid again?” “
No. As with the second dose, you will have to wait seven days after your reminder so that your pass can be used again. Let’s take Rémy’s example: if he makes his recall on March 7, he will be able to return to the bar or restaurant with his pass only on March 14, 2022.
Gérard: “By launching the 3rd dose for young people at the same time as the less young, it is impossible to get vaccinated before December 15 when I am 68 years old. Why does the State not leave the health pass valid longer since it is impossible to meet the imposed deadlines? “
For the moment, it is not planned to postpone the date of December 15 for those over 65, and January 15 for other adults. “There will be vaccines and appointments for everyone, insists the Ministry of Health. This vaccine boom was anticipated. “
“We are going to set up 8 million slots on the platforms”, announced the government spokesperson, Gabriel Attal, Tuesday morning on France Inter. This week, France is to receive 340,000 doses of Pfizer and 1.9 million doses of Moderna, according to the Ministry of Health. Finally, if at the beginning of December, 1,130 vaccination centers were running, 300 more must open quickly. In addition, the sites
Vitemadosis and
Covidlist can help find a niche.
Above all, Jean Castex announced Thursday evening that henceforth, all French people over 65 will be able to obtain a booster dose without an appointment, “whatever the center” of vaccination in which they go. Second boost: the government reactivated last Friday a “fast-track” number (08.00.73.09.56) so that people over 65 have easier access to appointments. For a first vaccination as for a booster.
Marie: “If I do my 3rd dose, and if a week later, we are told that the vaccine is not compatible with the new variant, we will have to be vaccinated again, it’s an endless chain…”
Today, we do not have reliable data on the effectiveness of current vaccines against the Omicron variant. We should know more in a few days or weeks. We know that this variant has around thirty mutations on the Spike protein. And that Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson are already working on a suitable vaccine candidate for Omicron, as they had done for the Beta and Delta variants.
According to Public Health France, on December 5 there were 25 cases of Covid-19 with the Omicron variant in France. A figure set to increase. But for the moment, the Delta variant represents nearly 100% of sequencing in France.
Is the 3rd dose useful in this context? “Obviously,” retorts the Ministry of Health. Currently, we are fighting against the Delta variant, responsible for this fifth wave. For all eligible people, you must do this reminder to be protected. »Will it nevertheless be necessary to make a new vaccine adapted to Omicron? The future will tell. But to protect themselves from the flu, the strain of which mutates each year, many people at risk are invited to be vaccinated each year.
Jean-Jacques: “My wife is immunocompromised, she received the booster dose in June. Will she need a 4th dose? “
The Directorate General of Health states in a press release: “for severely immunocompromised patients, in accordance with the advice of the Vaccine Strategy Orientation Council (COSV), the administration of a booster dose can be performed within a period of less than five months ( but at least three months), once it is judged by the medical team that the fourth dose would improve the immune response. “It will therefore be necessary to consult with the attending physician of each immunocompromised patient to know if a fourth dose is needed and when.
Philippe: “When you have a very high level of antibodies, why get vaccinated when the doctors say that I have virtually no chance of catching Covid-19? “
The question of the usefulness of having a serological test often comes up in the testimonies. The High Authority for Health recommended in early June to offer a test of this type (which reveals if you have been in contact with the coronavirus) before the first injection of the anti-Covid vaccine. The goal: to reduce the vaccination schedule to a single dose for people who already have antibodies. This is not the case before the recall. This phase is not the same: the “booster” is supposed to give your immunity a boost, whether or not you have been infected.
“For technical reasons, it is difficult today to define an antibody threshold below which the vaccination should be indicated”, underlines Eric Billy, researcher in immuno-oncology in Strasbourg and member of the collective On the side of science. Without taking into account that passing this test – which costs between 15 and 25 euros – to millions of people would have a significant cost.
Pascal: “I had a full Pfizer vaccination at the end of March. I just had the coronavirus on November 26. Am I immune so don’t need a 3rd dose? “
In the case of an infection after a double vaccination, you should still do a third dose, but at least five months after the date of your infection, not your injection. For Pascal, it will therefore be April 26, 2022 at the earliest. Knowing that June 26, his pass should be deactivated. If the guidelines don’t change by then …