Vaccination will be open to people over 55 from Monday, announces Olivier Véran



In a vaccination center in Perpignan. – PASCAL RODRIGUEZ / SIPA

Vaccination against Covid-19 will be open from Monday to all French people aged 55 or over, Minister of Health Olivier Véran announced at Sunday newspaper, at the start of the two weeks of confined school vacations. He explained that it would be possible thanks to two vaccines, that of AstraZeneca that “from tomorrow [lundi], all French people over 55, without conditions, will be able to receive “, and that of Johnson & Johnson, delivered in France from Monday, proposed,” for consistency and concern for efficiency, to all over 55 years , without conditions ”.

Since March 19, France has reserved the vaccine from the Anglo-Swedish laboratory AstraZeneca for over 55s, after rare but serious cases of coagulation disorders observed only in younger patients. The vaccine manufactured by Janssen-Cilag (Johnson & Johnson group) has been authorized by France since March 12. The minister indicated that the first delivery would be “200,000 doses”, “with a week in advance”. “We are expanding vaccination,” said Olivier Véran.

Success in nursing homes, more complicated in other age groups

Citing the other two vaccines authorized in France, the minister recalled “the announcement of the extension of the vaccination campaign by Pfizer and Moderna to all over 60 years from April 16”. The vaccination campaign against Covid-19 first targeted the most fragile people, aged over 75 or affected by comorbid factors (other health problems increasing the risk of death). Due to the slow pace of supply, it got off to a much slower start than the government would have liked.

The vaccination coverage rate with two doses is approaching 75% among nursing home residents, but only reaches 35% among 75-79 year-olds in the city, 9% among 70-74 year-olds, 4% among 65-69 year-olds. The Minister also announced “the spacing of the two doses of messenger RNA vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna”. “As of April 14, for all the first injections, we will offer a booster at 42 days instead of the current 28. This will allow us to vaccinate faster without seeing a reduction in protection, ”he explained.

The pace is accelerating, with more than 500,000 injections on Friday, after more than 400,000 on Thursday. On Saturday there were 320,000. On Friday, the High Authority for Health (HAS) recommended a second dose of a different vaccine (Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna) for those under 55 who had received a first dose of AstraZeneca before it was suspended in March for these age categories because of cases of atypical thrombosis.



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