The High Health Authority does not recommend the AstraZeneca vaccine to people over 65 because of a “lack of data”. She considers that vaccination skills should be extended to pharmacists and midwives.
- The HAS recommends using this vaccine as a priority for all health and medico-social sector professionals, and people between 50 and 65 years of age, starting with those with a comorbidity.
- She recommends spacing the two injections 9 to 12 weeks apart.
- Pharmacists and midwives could administer this vaccine
Around mid-February, the first injections of the AstraZeneca vaccine can be added to those of Pfizer and Moderna. In an opinion issued this Tuesday during a virtual press conference, the High Authority for Health (HAS) welcomed the arrival of this new vaccine which presents “between 62 and 70% efficiency”. She hopes for 10 million doses in the next 3 months,”which makes it possible to vaccinate 5 million additional people”. Regarding the potential arrival of other vaccines, the HAS merely indicated that as long as it has no data, it does not issue an opinion.
Between 9 and 12 weeks between two injections
The HAS has recommended not vaccinating people over 65 because it considers that “there is a lack of data for people aged over 65”, specified Dominique Le Guludec, the president of the HAS. She clarifies that these will arrive “in the coming weeks” and she suggests, in the meantime, to vaccinate as a priority all health professionals and the medico-social sector, and people between 50 and 65 years of age, starting with those who present a comorbidity, that is to say those who suffer from a pathology making them particularly susceptible to contracting severe forms of Covid-19. She adds that this opinion will be reviewed in the light of additional clinical results expected soon, in particular on the effectiveness of the vaccine on the over 65s. The HAS also recommended broadening vaccine expertise on this vaccine due to the fact that it is “easier to handle, comparable to that of the flu and that it is well tolerated”. This enlargement concerns pharmacists and midwives.
Regarding the spacing between the two injections, the HAS recommends leaving between 9 and 12 weeks. She adds that as long as contrary data do not prove it, the second injection must be of the same vaccine as the first. In addition, she indicated that two doses are indeed necessary for the vaccine to be fully effective, whereas the first data published by AstraZeneca were based on clinical trials in which some of the patients received only half a dose in first injection. “The efficacy after the first dose is quite comparable to the overall efficacyshe clarified. It is over the duration of the immunization that the second dose becomes essential. It leads to over-stimulation, allows for higher antibody levels and increased protection.”
A vector vaccine
AstraZeneca’s vaccine is a vector vaccine, different from the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines which are messenger RNA vaccines. “It is a monkey virus which is not pathogenicsaid Elisabeth Bouvet, president of the technical commission for vaccinations. We inserted a piece of RNA from the Covid that makes the Spike protein. The principle is quite close to messenger RNA since we insert something that will induce the production of the Spike protein.”
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