On vacation, with the children at a distance… How to get vaccinated this summer?

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Soon the summer holidays! After more than a year of pandemic, three lockdowns, curfews, shops and restaurants closed and cultural life at a standstill, summer is here, and life has finally resumed its rights for a few weeks. Largely thanks to the anti-Covid vaccination campaign. To date, more than 33.3 million people have received a first injection in France, according to the latest figures from
Covid Tracker.

But the shadow of the Delta variant hovers. Even more contagious than the former English variant, “it represents 20% of diagnoses in France, but it is gradually becoming dominant, warned the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, on Tuesday. This variant, which is very contagious, will present us with many challenges ”, especially as clusters are multiplying in France. So “We must remain very vigilant, that we vaccinate,” added the Minister. Except that with the imminent start of the summer holidays and the risk of having vaccine appointments that fall in the middle of the holidays, many people are asking themselves practical questions about the possibility of reconciling holidays and vaccination.

If you think you are on vacation at the time of your second injection, do you have to wait until your return to get vaccinated?

While epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists warn of a risk of a fourth wave in the fall, the French not yet vaccinated are called upon to do so as quickly as possible. However, today, the weekly number of first-time vaccines is in free fall: 400,000 at the beginning of June, against around 200,000 now. Not to mention the Delta variant, 50% to 80% more contagious than the currently dominant Alpha strain. Biologist Samuel Alizon estimates “that it would take more than 80% of vaccinated”, or about 55 million people, to achieve collective immunity. It would even be necessary to reach the threshold of “85% of people immunized so that the epidemic stops”, estimates the epidemiologist Pascal Crépey, who fears a perilous re-entry, “once the summer brake disappears”.

It is therefore not recommended to wait until the return from vacation to make vaccination appointments. Aware of this problem, the Head of State himself beats the recall. “No one is fully protected until everyone is vaccinated. Let us show solidarity. Let’s be responsible, “tweeted Emmanuel Macron, stressing that” slots are available “, and calling on everyone to” [prendre] Appointment “.

Can you get vaccinated at your vacation spot or speed up the time to receive your second injection?

Receiving your second dose before going to the beach, a few weeks ago, for the government, it was niet. “You have to adapt your vacation schedule (…) to your vaccination schedule,” we told the government in mid-May. But that was before. If there was a big traffic jam in the vaccination centers for the opening to all adults, on the eve of the holidays, the decline in the first injections pushed the executive to review its copy. The government spokesperson, Gabriel Attal, recently assured that the State would “strengthen the vaccine endowment of the centers which are in very heavily touristic places, so that French people who have not yet been vaccinated, who go on vacation, can do so if they wish ”. A possibility which must remain “an exception”, recalled Tuesday Olivier Véran: to receive its two doses in the same vaccination center remains the rule.

This seduction vaccination operation also led the authorities to shorten the time between the two injections. If at the beginning of June, the French had to block a time slot for their second injection within 35 to 49 days after the first, on June 15, this period was shortened to 21 days. The goal: to offer more visibility to the unvaccinated, to allow them to be fully vaccinated more quickly, and to obtain their European health pass, the key which allows its holders to travel freely within the EU.

Is there a risk in receiving a second dose of a vaccine other than the first one received?

In France, the High Authority of Health (HAS) has decided to reserve the AstraZeneca vaccine only for people over 55 years old, due to the occurrence of a few cases of thrombosis. For all young people who have already received a first dose of this vaccine, the HAS provides for a second injection a dose of messenger RNA serum, Moderna or Pfizer. “There are many arguments in favor of this strategy.”

A strategy that seems profitable and secure: the Spanish study CombiVacS, published in mid-May, shows that people who received a first dose of AstraZeneca and a second of Pfizer developed twice as many antibodies as those who received two doses of AstraZeneca. In addition, no health problems were identified among the 663 participants in this study. This mixed vaccination schedule has also been implemented across the Rhine for people who have received a first dose of AstraZeneca, like Angela Merkel. The German Chancellor has just received a second injection of Moderna a few weeks after receiving AstraZeneca.

How to vaccinate your eligible child if he is on vacation with his grandparents?

Since June 15, adolescents aged 12 to 17 can, if they wish and with the consent of both parents, be vaccinated against Covid-19, with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. And if your teenager wants to be vaccinated but spends part of the summer with his grandparents, your presence is not mandatory. However, it must imperatively be provided with its ”
parental authorization for vaccination against Covid-19 completed and signed by both parents, ”recalls Health Insurance.

Another formality that must be overcome: in addition to their own if they have one, minors must also present the Vitale card – or a certificate of rights – from one of their parents. This “precaution is necessary to ensure the correct filling of the Covid Vaccine tool”, adds Health Insurance.

When is the vaccination schedule considered complete?

To be considered fully vaccinated in France and Europe, you must first have received one of the four vaccines authorized by the European Medicines Agency (EMA): Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.

And for European health authorities, the vaccination schedule is complete fourteen days after the administration of the second injection of Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca, i.e. the time after which the body has made enough antibodies to protect the person vaccinated against severe forms of the disease. For the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which only requires a single dose, vaccination is complete 28 days after injection.

Finally, if you have already contracted Covid-19, you must wait at least two months after your contamination to be vaccinated. Whether you are an adult or a teenager, only one dose, given as a booster, is necessary.





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