LIVE – Covid-19: the Pfizer / Biontech vaccine “still effective” against the Omicron variant after “three doses”

The government spokesperson, at the end of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, called on the presidential candidates to “be responsible” for respecting the wearing of masks during meetings and political rallies.

The President of the Scientific Council, interviewed by the Senate Social Affairs Committee, indicated that the end-of-year celebrations will have to be done in respect of barrier gestures.

Jean-François Delfraisssy also invited the French to be tested before family reunions and to “limit the number of guests” at the table on festive evenings.

It will be forbidden to dance in bars and restaurants in France from Friday morning until January 6 inclusive, a period during which nightclubs will have to close their doors as part of the new anti-Covid measures decided by the French government, according to a decree published on Wednesday.

The discos “cannot welcome the public until January 6 inclusive” from Friday 6:00 am, according to the decree which adds that “this ban applies until the same date to dance activities” in bars and restaurants.

Pfizer / BioNTech laboratories announce that a version of their vaccine adapted to the Omicron variant is expected “in March”.

The Pfizer / Biontech vaccine is “still effective” against the Omicron variant after “three doses”, the company announces.

The president of the Scientific Council was questioned on Tuesday in the Senate on the discrepancy between the rich countries starting the booster doses, and those still having very poor access to the vaccine today. The WHO had thus alerted on this subject, calling for sending more vaccines to the poorest countries.

“When I hear that the 3rd dose should be kept to send it to the countries of the South, it is a scientific heresy”, launched Jean-François Delfraissy. “I absolutely do not share the opinion of the WHO on this. It is a political vision, absolutely not health”.

For him, we must today “consolidate, if we do not want to lose the beneficial effect of the vaccines we have launched in the North, we need the third dose”.

“We have a significant number, 300,000 or 400,000 people over 80, who would not be vaccinated” in France, reminded the Senate on Tuesday in the Senate the president of the Scientific Council, while it is a population particularly at risk of developing serious forms.

“We must continue to ‘go-to'”, he declared, “we must try to convince this elderly population, with the arrival of new variants it is still an additional argument”.

However, he is not in favor of compulsory vaccination. “Are we going to send them the force to vaccinate them? No, let’s stay with humanity.”

Jean-François Delfraissy reminded the Senate on Tuesday that the Scientific Council had decided in September for systematic screening in schools, where Covid-19 is circulating among students.

“We will perhaps go towards systematic screening at the start of the January school year,” he said, “given the explosion of cases in these age groups”.

However, he stressed that the subject was in the hands of the government which would be the decision maker.

With the vaccines currently used against Covid-19, “we are falling back on the limits of the system, we can clearly see that we have this loss of efficiency over time,” explained the President of the Scientific Council on Tuesday in the Senate.

“So indeed we need new vaccines, 2nd and 3rd generation vaccines,” he explained.

“We will not come out of this crisis only with vaccines” recalled Jean-François Delfraissy on Tuesday in the Senate, stressing the importance of barrier gestures in the fight against Covid-19.

“Yes, vaccines are very, very useful, but in the event of a wave, and a strong fifth wave as we have seen, barrier gestures are also important,” he underlines.

“Are there any contaminations after the third dose? The answer is yes,” Jean-François Delfraissy said in the Senate on Tuesday, recalling at the same time that the vaccine did not completely prevent contagion, but reduced it strongly.

“We have good data from Israel, which shows that there is a decrease in transmission in the general population”, after the third dose, he explains, repeating then, “there is a clear decrease in transmissions. after the third dose “.

“If the indication for vaccination in children [de 5 à 11 ans] is retained, the Scientific Council wants it not to be compulsory and not to be the subject of a children’s health pass, “Jean-François Delfraissy told the Senate on Tuesday.” This would be the best way to scare people away “, for the scientist, who however calls for a” recommendation “for this vaccination.

He recalled that the vaccination steering committee has issued “a recommendation for vaccination in these children”, but that “pediatricians are at least mixed on this indication”. The HAS must give its opinion on the subject within ten days, he said.

French scientists are currently waiting to receive toxicity data from the United States, where vaccination of 5-11 year olds began three weeks ago.

“A very strong message”. Before the Committee on Social Affairs, the Scientific Council, through the voice of its president Jean-François Delfraissy, called on caregivers to massively adhere to the 3rd dose

“The Scientific Council strongly recommends that we give ourselves the means so that our caregivers can be vaccinated quickly with the 3rd dose”, he insisted.

At the origin of this call, an observation: only 30% of them have already received their vaccination booster.

“It is very largely insufficient. It will be one of our recommendations: to start again with a very strong vaccination of the booster, because they have to protect themselves, that they protect the patients they treat. , that they protect families, “said Jean-François Delfraissy.

Will there eventually be a fourth dose of vaccine against Covid-19? Faced with the Committee on Social Affairs in the Senate on Wednesday, the President of the Scientific Council Jean-François Delfraissy estimated that “it is possible that we need at some point a fourth dose”.

“For now, it’s a recall, but maybe a fourth will be needed, I don’t know. I don’t know how long the recall will last. (…) In a crisis of this guy, we have to say everything we know, and put it on the table, so that we share what we know or don’t know. So it’s possible that we need to a given moment of a fourth dose, to remind, and within what time frame, I do not know yet “, declared Jean-François Delfraissy.

Asked whether the French could hope to have a peaceful Christmas, Emmanuel Macron wanted to be reassuring at the microphone of France Bleu Pays d’Auvergne. “Yes, I believe it deeply. Because we have tried each time to have a proportionate response”, ruled the head of state on Wednesday, on the sidelines of his trip to the Allier.

A result which, according to Emmanuel Macron, is due to the “efforts” made recently by the French.

“Because we made a collective effort, especially this summer and this fall, with the health pass, with the acceleration of vaccination, we are protected,” he said.

The anti-Covid vaccines are a priori effective against Omicron, which does not appear to be more dangerous than Delta, the variant that circulates the most in the world, senior scientists from the WHO and the White House told AFP.

“There is no reason to doubt” that the current vaccines protect patients infected with Omicron against severe forms of Covid-19, said Michael Ryan, the WHO emergency manager, in a report Tuesday evening. rare interview with AFP.

“We have very effective vaccines that have been shown to be potent against all of the variants so far, in terms of disease severity and hospitalization, and there is no reason to believe that would not be the case.” with Omicron, whose discovery in South Africa at the end of November arouses a wind of panic, hammered the doctor Ryan.

He admitted, however, that the vaccines might prove to be less effective against Omicron, which is distinguished by a very high number of mutations. But “it is highly improbable” that the variant can completely escape the protection conferred by vaccines.

More than 59,000 new cases of Covid-19 contamination have been recorded in the past 24 hours, according to figures from Public Health France published on Tuesday, which also show an increase in hospitalizations.

Precisely 59,019 new cases have been confirmed, according to the health agency. Over the last seven days (which smooths out the effects of non-working days), the average of new daily cases stands at 44,584, against about 30,000 a week ago, testifying to the acceleration of this wave.

The positivity rate is stable at 6.5% over the last seven consolidated days.

12,714 patients with Covid-19 are now hospitalized – including 1,665 new hospitalizations in 24 hours -, against just over 10,000 a week ago. The number of patients in critical care is also increasing, with 2,351 people, including 408 admissions in 24 hours, against less than 1,800 last Tuesday.

Find the latest information on the Covid-19 epidemic here.