“An injection = an infection”: the vaccine pass now valid with 2 doses then an infection
Minister Olivier Véran announced on BFMTV this Wednesday evening that “to benefit from the pass, it will now be necessary for the immune system to have been stimulated at least three times”. “It could be a vaccine injection, or an infection,” he said.
And to continue: “If you have had one injection and two infections, if you have had two injections and one infection, or if you have had three vaccine injections, you will keep the benefit of your pass without a time limit until that a limit be set if the situation changes”.
The end of the mask inside envisaged “in the spring, if the epidemic follows its course”
The Minister of Health has indicated that he is considering the end of the mask indoors “in the spring, if the epidemic follows its course”. “We have already done it,” he recalled, referring to what had been done before the Delta wave. “We will relive that moment, if the epidemic follows its course, it will be in the spring”.
Véran considers “probable” the end of the vaccination pass before July “given the current dynamics”
“We must give visibility to the French” on the vaccine pass, estimated Olivier Véran on our antenna Wednesday evening. The minister considered “probable” the end of the vaccination pass before July “given the current epidemic dynamics”.
“When we have freed up places in sheaves, if there is no new variant by then, the usefulness of the vaccination pass can quite be discussed”, continued the Minister of Health.
“We had no choice”: Véran justifies the implementation of the vaccine pass
Olivier Véra defended the controversial implementation of the vaccine pass on BFMTV. “We did the vaccination pass because we had no choice,” he said. Since the announcement of its implementation, “there have been a million French people who have not been vaccinated so far, who have decided to be vaccinated”, he continued. “These are lives saved”.
“At least one in two French people has contracted a form of Covid since the start of the pandemic”
The Minister of Health indicated this Wednesday that “at least one in two French people (had) contracted a form of Covid since the start of the pandemic” in the spring of 2020.
The BA.2 sub-variant “no more dangerous” than Omicron
Asked about the nature of the BA.2 sub-variant, Olivier Véran wanted to be reassuring: “it is not more dangerous” than the Omicron variant. However, he nuanced on our antenna: “We know that there are risks of reinfection by BA.2”.
To date, the Minister has indicated that “between 5 and 6% of the viruses in circulation in our country correspond to BA.2”.
For Véran, “we have passed the peak, the worst is behind us”
“Across the country”, Olivier Véran declared that we had “exceeded the” epidemic peak of the 5th wave “with sufficient hindsight”. “The worst is behind us, we did the hardest,” he added.
“By dint of mutating, the virus becomes less dangerous”
Olivier Véran was rather optimistic this Wednesday evening. The minister said that “by dint of mutating, the virus becomes less dangerous”, referring to the Omicron variant. The latter is particularly contagious but less virulent for people diagnosed positive.
Veran without a mask on set: a sign of the health improvement?
The Minister of Health Olivier Véran does not wear a mask on the set of BFMTV this Wednesday evening. Asked whether this was a first sign of an improvement in the health situation, the minister confirmed: “Yes, this is the sign I wanted to show this evening”. On January 13, Olivier Véran tested positive for Covid-19.
Stable hospitalizations in France, the number of cases down slightly
The number of people hospitalized in France due to Covid-19 was stable on Wednesday, still above 32,000, while the contaminations recorded fell over a week, according to figures published in the evening by the health authorities.
32,720 patients are currently in hospital with a Covid diagnosis (including 3,230 admissions in the past 24 hours) compared to 32,894 on Tuesday and 30,624 a week ago, according to Public Health France. Critical care services received 3,700 patients (including 366 admissions) against 3,751 on Tuesday and 3,712 a week ago.
The number of new cases stood at 315,363. On average over seven days, 306,076 cases were recorded against 365,130 a week ago, seeming to confirm that the peak of contamination has passed. The number of deaths since the start of the epidemic, almost two years ago, now stands at 131,588 people.
Olivier Véran answers your questions from 8:50 p.m.
The Minister of Health Olivier Véran is the guest of BFMTV this Wednesday evening. From 8:50 p.m., he will answer questions from French people for almost two hours about the Covid-19 crisis, as the hospital situation begins to stabilize in France.