08:50 – A 4th dose “absolutely essential” for people at risk, according to Professor Caumes
While the subject has been discussed lately, the question of the 4th dose of vaccine against Covid-19 was addressed by Professor Eric Caumes, this Friday morning, on European 1. Infectiologist at the AP-HP, he considers that it is absolutely essential”, but not for everyone. “An infection does not confer definitive immunity, a vaccination does not confer definitive immunity. It’s a labile immunity. So after five, six months, the immunity that is conferred by the vaccine has become bad”. He thus advocates “[d’]maintain vaccination in people at risk. In young people, I think that in any case, they are not at risk.”
08:42 – Slight drop in the number of critical care patients
According to daily data published by Public Health France on Thursday, 2,513 people were admitted to hospital in 24 hours, and 334 patients were admitted to critical care units. 24,154 people are hospitalized in France, ie 265 more than yesterday. Among them, 3,939 are treated in critical care units, 46 less than yesterday.
08:40 – More than 305,000 new contaminations in 24 hours
The latest assessment of Covid-19 in France reports 305,322 new contaminations, Thursday January 13. The figures communicated by Public Health France therefore show that the number of new cases has again decreased since the day before (-56,397), but the average of daily cases over 7 days continues to increase and is approaching 300,000 new daily infections: 293,867 new patients, Thursday January 13 against 287,604 the day before. Also, the incidence rate has gone down. It is now 2,833 cases per 100,000 inhabitants after losing 3 points in 24 hours.
08:33 – The end of the pandemic, a “very probable” scenario
After two years of global pandemic, are we moving towards a way out of the crisis? If the hypothesis seems to be a mirage for months with the appearance of many variants, specialists believe that the virus could evolve. “The end of the pandemic is a very likely scenario, but it is not a certainty”, explains to West France, this Friday, Yves Buisson, epidemiologist and president of the Covid cell at the National Academy of Medicine. A scenario with an “increasingly strong” probability. According to Alice Desbiolles, epidemiologist and public health doctor, Covid-19 could become endemic, that is to say it should continue to rage in a particular population or region of the world in the years future.
The reason ? The appearance of Omicron. “It has already circumnavigated the planet and it has killed very few people so far. When it infects people who are already naturally immune (via subsequent contamination) or vaccinated, it causes mild symptoms, if any everything, at least in people who are well vaccinated”, explains Yves Buisson. “This variant may be very favorable to the human species”, explains Hervé Fleury, virologist at the Bordeaux University Hospital. “I’m not saying it’s a certainty but it may be the variant we needed to achieve population immunity.” Jonathan Roux, epidemiologist at the École des Hautes Etudes de Santé Publique, specifies the form that Covid could take in the future: “By dint of being exposed, due to the return of Covid-19 each winter, we will develop a form of immunity. There will still, unfortunately, be people in hospital, but on a much smaller scale. And the others will have the classic symptoms of a seasonal virus.”