The Haute Autorité de Santé only recommends a booster dose against Covid-19 for individuals at risk of severe form.
- The HAS no longer recommends the booster dose against Covid-19 for everyone.
- Only those most at risk will be asked to do so.
- The reason is that Omicron, the variant most present in the territory, is less dangerous.
The vaccine strategy of the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS) in the fight against Covid-19 has changed: now, only people at risk of a serious form are invited to be vaccinated with a booster dose in the fall of 2023 .
A booster dose for those most at risk
These are more particularly people aged 65 and over, patients with certain comorbidities regardless of their age, as well as pregnant women. People around them or in regular contact with them are also invited to do so.
“The SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to circulate on the territory, but with a less severe variant – Omicron – since the beginning of the year 2022, can we read in a Feb. 24 statement released by the organization. HAS has thus adapted its vaccine recommendations to protect those most at risk of severe forms of Covid-19.“Nevertheless, all individuals who wish to receive this booster dose can have it and be reimbursed, regardless of their age.
The analysis of the epidemiological situation is detailed by Élisabeth Bouvet, president of the HAS Technical Commission on Vaccinations, in an article in the World. She considers that the health consequences of Omicron are limited.
“As long as there is quiet circulation of a low-virulence virus, the vaccine strategy does not have to target the general population, explains Elisabeth Bouvet. The virus that is circulating in the territory today is no longer really dangerous for the general population, we will have to live with it one way or another and we will not take any particular measures, except for people who have special risks.”
No compulsory vaccination for caregivers?
On the other hand, after six months, the HAS recommends that people aged 80 and over, but also the immunocompromised and those at very high risk of severe form can benefit from an additional booster from the spring. Preferably, the use of bivalent mRNA vaccines adapted to Omicron is advised, whatever the doses administered before.
In communication from the HAS published on February 20, 2023, the health authority estimated that caregivers may no longer have the obligation to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to work with patients.
“In the current context, the vaccination obligation against Covid-19 could be lifted for all professionals covered by the law of August 5, 2021 (…). This vaccination should however remain strongly recommended, in particular for professions for which a vaccination recommendation is currently in force for influenza, including students and professionals in the health and medico-social sectors (working in establishments or liberals) and students and professionals in close and repeated contact with young children.“
