The vaccination of 12-15 year olds with Pfizer should be authorized next week in the United States and has been studied since Monday by the European regulator. After a first injection with AstraZeneca, Olivier Véran received a second dose with the Moderna vaccine, following the recommendations of the HAS. Finally, in the report of the citizen collective made public yesterday, the government harvests a “can do better” on its vaccine strategy.
- A trial conducted by Pfizer suggests that its vaccine is “100% effective” in 12-25 year olds.
- Vaccinating children lowers the rate of people vaccinated to achieve herd immunity.
- The citizen collective calls on the government to communicate more clearly, target young people and improve the organization of vaccination.
Vaccination could soon accommodate a new population. As of next week, in the United States, the Pfizer-BioNTech anti-Covid vaccine should be authorized for children from the age of 12. The emergency use authorization request was filed last April by the American pharmaceutical group after trials whose results would indicate that the product is 100% effective against 12-15 year olds. In Europe, the request for authorization was submitted last Friday by Pfizer. The evaluation began on Monday by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), whose opinion is expected in June.
Olivier Véran: after AstraZeneca, Moderna
Vaccination of children is important because it would lower the rate of people vaccinated to achieve herd immunity. According to estimates from the Pasteur Institute, pre-published on April 6, to resume a normal life, 90% of the adult population would have to have received both injections, or the single dose in the case of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Vaccinating the youngest would lower this rate. In case of immunization of children, it would be enough to vaccinate “60 to 69% of 0-64 year olds and 90% of over 65 year olds” to allow a total relaxation of the current measures, advanced Simon Cauchemez, head of the mathematical modeling laboratory of infectious diseases at the Institut Pasteur and main author of the study, at the Parisian. “If it is demonstrated that vaccines are safe and effective in children, vaccinating them could be interesting in order to reduce the circulation of the virus in this age group and not leave it in a position to transmit the virus to fragile and vulnerable people. unprotected“, he estimated.
This Monday, the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, received his second injection of the anti-Covid vaccine. He is one of nearly 7 million French people who have had both doses, while almost 16 million have received the first shot. After getting AstraZeneca’s first dose product, this time he got Moderna. This change is in line with “the recommendation of the High Authority for Health“, announced his cabinet. Indeed, on April 9, HAS issued an opinion in which she recommends people under 55 who have had a first injection of AstraZeneca to have a second dose with a messenger RNA product, Pfizer or Moderna.
Improve communication
The citizen collective, made up of 31 French people drawn by lot to evaluate the government’s vaccination strategy, made its recommendations this Monday to Alain Fischer, the president of the Council of orientation of the vaccine strategy. Their conclusion:can do better”.
First of all, they point to a lack of clarity on the strategy adopted. “There have been too many reversals in terms of communicationreported Gilles Duhamel, one of the members of the collective, at France info. This can be explained by the work in the emergency with scientific information that arrives as and when. But that doesn’t give people confidence.“To encourage the population to get vaccinated, they encourage the government to multiply actions (brochures in waiting rooms, television commercials, etc.) and to turn to hairdressers, restaurants or booksellers to convince. “Having a message in the bakery where we go every day will have more impactadds Gilles Duhamel. We also talk about a weekly TV show, but with scientists, because today, the voice of politicians is no longer credible.”
Another failure of communication decried by the collective: the AstraZeneca vaccine. “We did everything wrongsummarizes the collective. The cacophony generates suspicion.”
The members of the collective also believe that a targeted campaign aimed at young people must be carried out through the right channels. “The youngest members of the collective work directly with Alain Fischer and the government’s communication unit for messages aimed at young people”, revealed Gilles Duhamel. “It is important to include young people in information campaigns on vaccination because when we communicate with them this summer, it will be too late, they will be in the mood to travel, movecontinues Lilya Gueddiche, also a member of the collective. Young people are hyper-connected and, as a result, are vectors of information to those around them. They can inform their parents and grandparents who are now directly affected by vaccination.”
Better manage appointments
Finally, the last point raised by the group concerns the organization of vaccination. They advocate making vaccination sites closer to people. “We should go vaccinate with buses, do what happens with blood donationsuggests Gilles Duhamel. The vaccinodromes are good, but not everyone goes there. We also mention marauding for the homeless or the vaccination of seasonal workers.” The report also highlights the importance of targeting “hidden populations. For example for migrants in Calais, it would be the associations that could take care of their vaccinationproposes Gilles Duhamel. They are ideal candidates for the Janssen, as only one dose is needed..”
In addition, the making of appointments and the management of waiting lists must be improved, according to the 31 French people in the collective. “The appointment booking system does not work properlythey say. Ask for the Social Security number to be entered in appointment booking requests, and connect the different appointment booking bases to avoid duplicates and wasted doses”, could be a solution.
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