17% of the adult population suffers from obesity in France. Today nearly half of people admitted to intensive care are young obese individuals and they do not have priority for vaccination. However, being overweight is recognized as a risk factor. So a question remains: are they the forgotten people of the vaccination campaign?
It is a cry of alarm from part of the French population. In hospitals, patients suffering from obesity are flocking to intensive care units and the figures will not confirm the contrary. Among the patients admitted to intensive care for an aggravated reaction to Covid-19, 45% are overweight. It is even 47% since the beginning of the year. According to an Australian study relayed today by the League Against Obesity “Obesity is associated with many poor health outcomes, including an increased risk of cardiometabolic and respiratory illnesses and more serious viral illnesses, including influenza, dengue and SARS-CoV-1”.
Based on research published by the World Obesity Foundation (WOF), more than 2.2 of the 3.01 million deaths linked to Covid-19 worldwide come from countries where obesity is very present. Despite the figures and observations deplored by doctors, only obese people with co-morbidities (or over 50 years of age) are eligible for vaccination.
3.5 million French people are affected
Many other studies have shown that overweight people are at risk during this time of the epidemic. Every day, these French people take an inconsiderable risk by leaving their homes. Faced with the Covid-19 virus, they are the most likely to contract a serious form and develop sequelae. Hence their incomprehension of not yet having access to the various vaccines. This is the case of Alina Constantin, interviewed by Europe 1, the 45-year-old Frenchwoman is sounding the alarm. “The intensive care units are congested by overweight or obese people, more and more young. The reality is there!” she hammers. “This is not normal. We are not second class citizens!”
Interviewed by BFMTV , the co-founder and director of the League against obesity is indignant at the current situation “Since March 2020 we have stopped moving the lines to accept obesity as an integral part of the risk criteria, so that the figures of deaths, the figures of hospitalizations, prove that this pathology is very at risk “.
A vaccination center dedicated to obese patients from the age of 18
However, the director of the association welcomes the initiative of the ARS du Grand-Est and the prefecture of the city of Strasbourg, to set up a vaccination center dedicated to people suffering from obesity, from the age of 18. Unfortunately this is a unique case “elsewhere on the territory, people suffering from obesity between 18 and 50 years old cannot be vaccinated,” she declares on BFMTV.
