A new vaccination campaign against Covid-19 is planned for this fall, with three new vaccines adapted to the Omicron variant.
- A monovalent vaccine targets only the original strain of a virus.
- For those under 30, the HAS renews its recommendation: vaccinate only with Pfizer BioNTech serum.
- The time between two doses must be three months for those over 80, residents of nursing homes and immunocompromised people, and six months for others.
The eighth wave of Covid-19 is looming in France, and health authorities are preparing. The High Authority for Health has issued new recommendations concerning vaccination. In a communicated published on September 20, it advises using one of the three bivalent vaccines, adapted to the Omicron variant. Two are manufactured by Pfizer/BioNTech and one by the Moderna laboratory.
#Communicated | #Covid19 HAS integrates bivalent vaccines adapted to Omicron variants recently validated by the@EMA_News in the fall vaccination strategy.
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– High Authority for Health (@HAS_sante) September 20, 2022
Anti-Covid vaccine: targeting the original strain and a variant
These sera are said to be bivalent because they target both the original strain of Sars-CoV-2 and a variant. Moderna’s vaccine and one from Pfizer/BioNTech targets the original strain, and the Omicron BA.1 variant. The second from Pfizer/BioNTech targets the original strain and the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants. These various products have previously been validated by the European Medicines Agency. “Vaccines are tailored to better match current variants of Sars-CoV-2 and should provide broader protection against different variants.”noted theAEM. These are not new vaccines, but new versions, more adapted to the evolution of the virus. The HAS compares them to those of the seasonal flu, updated every year to act against new forms of the virus.
Efficacy at least equivalent to that of previous vaccines
“The clinical efficacy expected for these new bivalent vaccines is at least equivalent or even superior to that of the original monovalent vaccines, without this probable superiority being able to be demonstrated in real life at present., underlines the HAS. All three vaccines have been evaluated in experimental studies, and this is one of their advantages: as they are only an adapted version of the initial vaccine, their evaluation is faster. Trials have shown them to be as well tolerated as monovalent vaccines.
A vaccination campaign against the Coronavirus this fall
For this fall, the Haute Autorité de santé is organizing a new vaccination campaign against the new Coronavirus. It targets people over 60, people who are immunocompromised or at risk of a severe form, pregnant women from the first trimester, relatives of people at risk and professionals in contact with vulnerable people. “As part of the additional dose recommended this fall, the HAS recommends using, preferably, a bivalent mRNA vaccine, regardless of the vaccines used previously.indicates the HAS.
Also, to facilitate the organization of the recall campaign, it advises to carry out the vaccination against Covid-19 at the same time as the anti-influenza vaccination. “Concretely, the two injections can be performed on the same day, but at two separate vaccination sites – one vaccine in each arm. This new campaign should be launched in the coming weeks, depending on the evolution of the epidemic. If Covid-19 cases remain lower than expected, it will be launched on October 18, 2022, the official launch date of the seasonal flu vaccination campaign.
