Covid-19: should we vaccinate adolescents?

According to the government-appointed “Mr. Vaccine”, adolescents aged 16-17 should be eligible for vaccination as early as this summer. Meanwhile the CEO of Moderna, Stéphane Bancel is also campaigning with the European Union for 12-15 year olds to be vaccinated at the start of the school year.

Will all adolescents be vaccinated for the start of the September school year? The idea is starting to flourish, especially in laboratories. The French boss of Moderna, Stéphane Bancel, calls for the vaccination of 12-17 year olds as soon as possible. “The ideal would be to protect them before the end of August. If we do not vaccinate massively, the risk of a fourth wave can be ruled out, ”he said in the columns of the JDD.

For the moment, the only French minors who can be administered the Pfizer-BioNTech anti-covid vaccine are those aged 16 to 18 with serious comorbidities (around 10,000 to 20,000 according to health authorities) or close to immunocompromised people. Overall, nearly 32.9% of the French population has received at least a first injection of the vaccine against Covid-19.

Asked by France Info, Marie-Paule Kieny, research director at Inserm and vaccinologist declared “If it continues at this rate, we are really on the right track. […] we need young people to want to be vaccinated because it would take 80% of the population to be vaccinated for this population immunity to be achieved which would therefore make it possible to almost completely prevent the circulation of the virus “. In the absence of sufficient adults, scientists are basing their expectations on children. “For that, it is not only the elderly who are vaccinated,” she adds. “It has to be young people, so the fact that young people understand that in order to be able to go out, to be able to return to a more normal life, they have to be vaccinated, I think that’s very good.”

The government’s strategy for immunization for this segment of the population is beginning to be planned. The chairman of the steering committee on the vaccine strategy, Alain Fischer announced Friday, May 21 on BFMTV that adolescents aged 16-18 can consider vaccination “During June”. For 12-15 year olds, he also adds that he “Might not be unreasonable to consider vaccinating teenagers in France [de cette tranche d’âge] at the start of the school year, and I think it would be great to vaccinate them at school “. Mr. Vaccin recalls that vaccination by school doctors was once a common practice and that it has since passed. “Almost complete disappearance” of this profession. However, private nurses on vacation could go to colleges, he suggested. For the moment the government was not “Only at the stage of reflection”.

Vaccination for 12-15 year olds is currently open for the United States and Canada. North America relied on a clinical trial to make this possible. Researchers suggest that the Pfizer-BioNTech Messenger RNA vaccine is 100% effective against severe forms of the disease in this segment of the population. On the other hand, while the data are sufficient for 12-17 year olds, they are insufficient for those under 12 years old. The latter would not be eligible before 2022 according to Mr. Fischer, who recalled that clinical trials relating to this part of the population were just starting.