• A few weeks ago, people under 55 received a first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine, which gave them access to vaccination before being eligible, while preventing doses of this unpopular vaccine from being missed. end up in the trash, for lack of takers.

  • But a few days later, after the occurrence of a few cases of specific thrombosis, the High Authority for Health (HAS) recommended reserving the AstraZeneca vaccine only for people over 55 years of age.

  • According to the new recommendations in force, for those under 55 years of age, the second dose is now administered with a messenger RNA serum.

    An unforeseen change that the first interested people tell "20 Minutes"

They were in a hurry to get vaccinated and happy to benefit from doses of vaccines that without them would have ended up in the trash.

Several weeks ago, people under 55 received their first injection with the unpopular AstraZeneca serum.

Except that in the days following their vaccination, the occurrence of rare cases of thrombosis in relatively young people led the High Authority for Health (HAS) to revise its recommendations, finally reserving the Anglo-Swedish vaccine for over 55s. .

So, for all those who had already received their first dose of AstraZeneca and who became ineligible, it was necessary to develop another vaccination schedule, consisting of offering them a second dose of another vaccine, this time. messenger RNA (mRNA), Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna.

They gave their impressions to 

20 Minutes.

"We were happy to be vaccinated and to avoid wasting doses"

Theo, 23, receives his first dose of AstraZeneca in early March. "My father is a general practitioner, he had withdrawn because of the controversy and suggested that my mother and I be vaccinated". Ditto for Thomas, 38, vaccinated by his sister-in-law, a doctor. “She called us my wife because she has two doses left after withdrawals from the elderly who preferred to receive Pfizer. It was us or the trash ”. Almost the same pattern for Sabine 38, treated for a year for grade 3 breast cancer and vaccinated by a doctor friend: “I was not considered at risk because I had no chemotherapy, but I was felt very weakened physically by my cancer ”.

English teacher in a school welcoming students from CM2 to 12th grade, Olivia, 30, has seen contaminations increase in her establishment. "I wanted to feel protected, and as my doctor had doses on his arms, he agreed to vaccinate me immediately." Same causes and same effects for Bernard and his wife Françoise, 50, who took advantage of AstraZeneca's unpopularity to be vaccinated before their time. Because in medical offices, "it is certain that we had difficulty finding a taker for the doses of AstraZeneca, confirms Dr. Jean-Paul Hamon, general practitioner and honorary president of the Federation of Doctors of France (FMF). We have had cancellations and we still have to throw away doses today, ”he laments. But we,we were happy to be vaccinated early and to avoid wasting doses, ”confided the two spouses.

"I was afraid to play guinea pigs"

A winning shot for the doctors and for those vaccinated from the very beginning.

Except that a few days after their first dose, the occurrence of thrombosis in young people shortly after their vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine for France to suspend the vaccine on March 15.

"At that point, I was afraid that my first dose would not be counted or that I would have to start all over," recalls Olivia.

Sabine, she fears for her health.

"My hormone therapy treatment was already associated with a risk of thrombosis, so after my first dose, I was worried, especially since my first dose was from the batch implicated in the death of a nurse."

Theo, he wondered what he was going to receive his second dose with. And many were in this situation. "Before this restriction, a little more than 500,000 people under the age of 55 received a first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine", indicates the HAS. In its opinion published on April 9, the health authority indicated that "the administration of a single dose of this vaccine being insufficient to guarantee lasting effective protection", it was now "recommended to complete the vaccination schedule for this population. with an mRNA vaccine within 12 weeks of the first injection ”. At that time, “I hesitated to be vaccinated, I was afraid to serve as a guinea pig, that this solution would only be DIY,” says Sabine. I called my oncologist and my doctor,which reassured and encouraged me to receive my second dose ”.

“Some patients contacted us again, and we called the others, to inform them and accompany them to make an appointment for their second dose,” explains Dr. Hamon.

"We easily made an appointment online, but we did it well in advance to be sure to receive our second dose 12 weeks after the first," said Bernard.

Theo, he asked himself a lot of questions.

I was afraid of being less well immunized, and there weren't too many studies on the subject ”.

For its part, the HAS recommended "to set up very quickly a study to evaluate in real life the immune response conferred by the recommended mixed vaccination scheme".

“Glad to have received the winning cocktail!

"

So, what is the effectiveness for this new vaccination scheme, called “heterologous prime-boost” type, which consists in using for the second injection (boost) a vaccine using a technique different from the first (prime)? "Many arguments are in favor of this strategy, (...) which has proved to be more effective than the homologous prime-boost approach [two identical doses]", assures the HAS. She recalled that anti-Covid vaccines, whether adenovirus such as AstraZeneca or mRNA for Pfizer and Moderna, "target the same antigen [the Spike protein], which makes it possible to support this strategy", and that "to many studies are in progress ”, and that the first results are“ encouraging ”.

For example, the results of the recently published Spanish study CombiVacS show that people who received a first dose of AstraZeneca and a second of Pfizer developed twice as many antibodies as those who received two doses of AstraZeneca. In this study including 663 participants, no health problem was identified due to this vaccination schedule. These results are more than reassuring for Thomas and his wife, of scientific training. "It gives confidence this second dose of Pfizer, more effective against the latest variants." A sentiment shared by Olivia, who “watched the delta variant soar in the UK. Finally, this vaccine combination, which is potentially even more protective than if I had received two doses of AstraZeneca, reassures me ”.Especially since "we do not a priori need a third dose to be fully protected", complete Sabine. "When I saw that this vaccine mix tended to increase immunity, I said to myself that I was happy to have received the winning cocktail", rejoices Bernard.

Result, “I have patients over 55 years of age who seek to trick in order to benefit from this vaccination scheme!

», Notes Dr Hamon.

But whatever the age of his patients, the doctor observes the progression of vaccination coverage within his patient population.

"Many have been vaccinated, they have done very well: about 70% of them have already had their two doses."

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