Following the contradictory opinions of the HAS and the Academy of Medicine, the Government finally chose to maintain the delays between the two injections of the vaccines against Covid-19 recommended by the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna laboratories.
- The time between the two doses of the Pfizer vaccine is maintained at “3 or 4 weeks” by the Government.
- “We are facing an unknown part and I choose security”, explained the Minister of Health Olivier Véran.
The Minister of Health Olivier Véran and Alain Fischer, the “mister vaccine” of the executive, announced on BFM-TV this Tuesday, January 26, do not extend the time between the administration of the two doses of messenger RNA vaccines, as recommended by the High Authority for Health (HAS).
Conflicting scientific opinions
For the injection to be effective against Covid-19, the Pfizer/BioNTech laboratory provides a delay of 21 days between the two injections, and Moderna 28. But faced with delivery delays and the spread of Sras-Cov-2 variants on the territory, the HAS had estimated last week that a delay of up to six weeks between the two injections could be tolerated, and thus allow the vaccination of more French people.
For its part, if the Academy of Medicine has itself recognized that “delayed administration of a booster injection does not compromise its effectiveness since it is generally followed by a rapid re-ascent of antibodies and a strengthening of protective immunity”, it also underlined the limits of this exercise. “The persistence, in a context of epidemic resurgence, of a low level of immunity during the additional weeks preceding the second injection must be considered”, she wrote in a January 11 statement.
“I choose safety”
And the Academy to recall the “Individual risk of aggravation linked to the prolongation of a state of heightened receptivity in persons with a low level of neutralizing antibodies”. Even worse : “the weakening of the extended vaccination coverage by a low level of immunity will constitute a favorable ground for the emergence of one or more variants escaping the immunity induced by the vaccination”, say scientists.
Faced with these two contradictory opinions, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran therefore decided. “We are facing an unknown part and I choose security”, he explains. “I therefore maintain the injection time between two Pfizer injections at 21 or 28 days, i.e. 3 to 4 weeks, and ask those responsible for vaccination to stick to this recommendation. We are not touching the injection delay of the Pfizer vaccine”, he concludes.
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