Since the start of thecovid outbreak, the Ministry of Health is supported by the High Authority for Health (HAS) to establish its vaccination strategy. Today, while Covid cases have fallen sharply (see the latest figures) and health rules have almost all been abolished, what does the HAS propose for 2023?
In a communicated published this Friday, February 24, it therefore recommends:
-to forecast a recall campaign in autumn for people at risk of severe form, at the same time as the flu vaccination campaign.
– and for people at very high risk (over 80, immunocompromised people, people at very high risk): an extra dose in the spring if their state of health and their level of vaccination protection so require.
Anti-Covid vaccine reminder: for whom?
The logic of the HAS is as follows: the first vaccination campaigns targeted the general population in order to limit the circulation of the virus and to keep the hospital under tension after successive epidemic peaks. Today, the situation has changed: the immunity of the French is better and the Omicron variant is less severe. Also, as in the fall of 2022, the HAS favors protection of the people most at risk of a severe form, i.e. the following people:
- People aged 65 and over;
- Infants from 6 months, children, adolescents and adults with comorbidities at higher risk of severe disease;
- Immunocompromised people;
- People with any other comorbidity, taking into account the individual medical situation, within the framework of a medical decision shared with the healthcare team;
- People living in the entourage or in regular contact with immunocompromised or vulnerable people, including professionals in the health and medico-social sectors;
It should be noted, however, that if to date, the HAS no longer recommends primary vaccination in the general population, it nevertheless insists on “the importance of leaving the possibility to anyone who expresses the request to be able to benefit from a booster dose and to be able to be reimbursed for this vaccination.
How long after the previous reminder? This new dose is recommended within a period of at least six months since the last dose or infection, regardless of the person’s age or the number of previous boosters.
With which vaccine? HAS preferentially recommends the use of bivalent mRNA vaccines adapted to Omicron, regardless of the vaccine(s) previously administered.
Finally, HAS recommends combining the autumn vaccination campaign against Covid-19 with that for influenza which targets the same populations, and to consider that the start date of the campaign against Covid-19 will be determined by the date of beginning of that against the seasonal flu.
