The High Authority for Health issued its opinion on Tuesday on the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in France.

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ALLILI MOURAD / SIPA

  • A few days after the authorization of the AstraZeneca vaccine by the European Medicines Agency, the High Authority for Health (HAS) in turn authorized it for the French market, in an opinion issued on Tuesday.

  • However, HAS has decided to reserve the use of this vaccine for people under 65 years of age.

  • A decision which is explained by the lack of data on the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine on people over 65, in whom it could be less effective, and which joins the strategy adopted by several European countries.

And three.

After the vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, that of the AstraZeneca laboratory has in turn been authorized in France, after being validated on Friday by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

In an opinion issued on Tuesday, the High Authority for Health (HAS) authorized the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine and detailed its place in the French vaccine strategy.

The HAS has therefore decided to recommend its use only to people under 65 years of age, due to the limited data available on the efficacy of this vaccine on older populations.

A decision which joins the strategy of several European countries, and which should give the next kick-off of the anti-Covid vaccination in general practices or even in pharmacies.

Recommended for under 65s and healthcare professionals

"Today, a viral vector vaccine is arriving and we are delighted with its arrival", which presents "between 62 and 70% effectiveness according to the studies", declared Dominique Le Guludec, president of the HAS , which "hopes for 10 million doses, which will allow 5 million people to be vaccinated".

On the other hand, "there is a lack of data for patients over 65," said Dominique Le Guludec.

These data will be available soon, but in the meantime, we recommend its use in people under 65 ”.

Recommendations that target "two populations: health professionals and people aged between 50 and 65 years, starting with those who present co-morbidities and which were planned in phase 3 of the vaccination strategy", he said. she adds.

A vaccine "which is not currently recommended for pregnant women", added Professor Elisabeth Bouvet, president of the technical committee on vaccinations.

The opinion of the HAS "will be reviewed in the light of additional clinical data that we are awaiting", indicated the president of the HAS. *

Like Germany, Austria, Sweden ...

"This vaccine is apparently less effective than RNA vaccines, it is based on a different technology and its effectiveness has been less evaluated in people over 65," said Mylène Ogliastro, virologist at INRA Montpellier, vice-president of the French Society of Virology, this Tuesday on franceinfo.

However, “we know that the elderly generally respond less well to vaccination.

Reserving higher-efficiency vaccines for the most vulnerable people seems to me to be a good solution, ”she believes.

“Caregivers and younger people with co-morbid factors should be favored,” commented Tuesday morning on France 2 Professor Alain Fischer, the government's vaccine man.

In several European countries, the health authorities have expressed more or less strong reservations about its effectiveness for the elderly.

Germany, Austria and Sweden have decided to restrict its use only to people under 65.

And in Italy and Bulgaria, "preferential use" of the AstraZeneca vaccine is recommended for those under 55 years of age.

Pharmacists and general practitioners ready to vaccinate

On the logistical side, this new vaccine available, which does not rely on the messenger RNA technology of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, should allow a wider deployment of the vaccination.

"As it is an easy to handle vaccine, and which is well tolerated, we are in favor of expanding the vaccine expertise concerning this AstraZeneca vaccine," said Dominique Le Guludec.

We recommend that pharmacists and midwives, in addition to nurses and doctors, can vaccinate ”.

“The conditions of transport and storage [of the AstraZeneca vaccine] are much simpler than the RNA vaccines used so far.

So this should make it possible, within a few weeks, for general practitioners and pharmacists to be able to vaccinate ”, rejoiced Professor Alain Fischer on Tuesday.

The first vaccinations in France with the AstraZeneca vaccine should thus begin "around mid-February", he added.

Less restrictive than the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, the AstraZeneca vaccine can be stored for six months in the refrigerator and could quickly be distributed to general practitioners and pharmacists, ready to vaccinate.

Very quickly, pharmacists "will obviously be able to vaccinate, we need them, we have a network of pharmacies on the territory which is extremely dense", declared Monday evening the spokesman of the government, Gabriel Attal, on France 5. By specifying that “if they could not do so until now, it is because we have Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines which have conservation requirements […] which, objectively, make it very difficult for a pharmacist to do it in his pharmacy, which is not the case for AstraZeneca ”.

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