Covid-19: why is it finally advisable to postpone the second dose of the vaccine?

DECRYPTION

France is in a "context which raises fears of an epidemic outbreak", recalled Elisabeth Bouvet, president of the technical commission of the vaccinations of the High authority of Health (HAS), Saturday on Europe 1. Across Europe, the new variants of Covid-19 are spreading and France therefore wishes to accelerate the rate of vaccination of vulnerable people.

To do this, the HAS recommended Saturday to postpone the injection of the second dose of the vaccine by 3 to 6 weeks.

Elisabeth Bouvet explained why on our antenna.

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A context of "emergency"

"The number of new cases is increasing, the number of people in intensive care is increasing, we are waiting, we know that the variant which is raging in the United Kingdom is already there, that it can therefore only increase", underlined the president of the HAS technical commission.

There are therefore "several possibilities to fight against, and one is to protect as much as possible the people most at risk of serious forms, namely the elderly". 

Releasing doses for new people

In the current vaccination configuration, explains Elisabeth Bouvet, "we put aside the second dose of vaccine to do it at three weeks. If we do not put it aside, we will gain in number of people vaccinated very quickly", since this dose thus released can be used to carry out the first injection of other people.

Efficacy does not appear to be compromised after 42 days

According to the HAS, delaying this injection by three weeks is also not problematic for the effectiveness of the immunization.

The latter would be according to their models "maximum after 15 days or 3 weeks after this first dose, sufficient to protect a maximum of people".