In a press release of Friday, December 18, the High Authority for Health (HAS) considers that people who have already developed a symptomatic form of Covid-19 and pregnant women are not “systematically” among the people to be vaccinated as a priority.
- In a new opinion, the High Authority for Health considers that people who have developed a symptomatic form of Covid-19 should not be systematically vaccinated.
- Pregnant women, as well as people with disabilities housed in social and medico-social establishments, are not considered a priority either.
Should priority and systematic vaccination be given to people who have already contracted Covid-19? The contact persons? Pregnant women ?
While Prime Minister Jean Castex announced that vaccination against Covid-19 could begin in France “from the last week of December”the French National Authority for Health (HAS) has clarified its recommendations on the vaccination strategy to be adopted.
No routine vaccination for symptomatic patients
In a statement published on December 18, the scientific body returned to an opinion issued at the end of November and in which it argued that people who had already developed a symptomatic form of Covid-19 should be vaccinated as a priority. In particular, she believed that “the available data do not allow the vaccination of individuals to be guided according to their infectious status with regard to Sars-Cov-2, nor according to the immunity conferred by a previous infection with Sars-Cov-2”.
Change of tone in its last press release, where the HAS considers this time that it is not necessary to vaccinate “systematically” all former Covid-19 patients who have developed symptoms.
“The scientific finding is as follows: to date the data do not make it possible to know if there is a benefit in vaccinating people who have already been infected with SARS-CoV-2”writes the HAS, which specifies “that there is no particular serious adverse effect when a person who has already had Covid-19 is vaccinated”. Also, she argues that there is “no need to systematically vaccinate people who have already developed a symptomatic form of Covid-19”even if “these people must be able to be vaccinated if they wish after a decision shared with the doctor”. “In this case, it then seems preferable to respect a minimum period of 3 months from the start of the symptoms”continues the High Authority for Health.
Pregnant women and people with disabilities not a priority
HAS also provides details on the case of people with disabilities housed in social and medico-social establishments. If they do not have comorbidities and/or high age increasing the risk of a severe form, they are not at this stage identified as a priority for vaccination. There is one exception, however: people with trisomy 21, who are more likely to develop a severe form of Covid-19.
Pregnant women are also not considered to be among the priority populations to be vaccinated. “In addition, the foreign national recommendations (in particular English) identified at this stage do not recommend vaccination during pregnancy”underlines the HAS.
Remain the contact persons. Before considering vaccination, the scientific body recommends that the latter “Get tested to confirm or rule out Covid-19 infection”.
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