The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19.

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Valentina Petrova / AP / SIPA

  • While the vaccination of over 75s continues, as of this Thursday, people aged 50 to 64 with co-morbidities will also be able to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

  • For their part, those between 65 and 74 years old are still not eligible for vaccination.

  • Too young to receive the vaccines from Pfizer or Moderna and too old for that of AstraZeneca, 65-74 year olds do not benefit to date from any vaccine solution against the coronavirus.

They will still have to wait.

While those over 75 can be vaccinated since the start of the year, and as of this Thursday, it will also be possible for people aged 50 to 64 with co-morbidities, all those who are between 65 and 74 years old are still not eligible for the anti-Covid vaccination.

Blame it on the lack of available vaccines, which have also not received indications for this age group.

And with delivery delays, 65-74 year olds should wait until at least April to receive a vaccine.

But a new study could change that.

Too young for Pfizer and Moderna, too old for AstraZeneca

In developing its vaccine strategy, the government had anticipated drop-off vaccine deliveries and, unable to massively vaccinate the entire population, determined the priority people.

First called to be vaccinated residents of nursing home, followed by over 75 years living at home.

Logically, the next ones had to be the 65-74 year olds, who were finally made toast by the under 65 year olds suffering from comorbidities.

Blame it on the vaccines available, and the indications they come with.

Following the recommendations of the High Authority for Health (HAS), which noted the lack of data on the efficacy of AstraZeneca's viral vector vaccine in people over 65 years of age, the elderly are all vaccinated with messenger RNA sera. , those developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

The vaccine developed by the British laboratory AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford is therefore reserved for under 65s.

A quick reading of these prescriptions thus reveals a vaccine gap: for the moment nothing is planned to vaccinate the 65-74 year olds: too young to qualify for RNA vaccines and too old to receive the British serum.

"I am 70 years old, I have diabetes, I would like to know when I can get vaccinated?

People under 65 with diabetes can be vaccinated now.

I really have the impression that people between 65-74 with comorbidities are forgotten, ”tweeted a septuagenarian for Prime Minister Jean Castex.

@JeanCASTEX hello!

I am 70 years old I am diabetic, I would like to know when I could be vaccinated?


People under 65 with diabetes can be vaccinated now.

I really feel like people between 65-74 with co-morbidity are being forgotten.

- Maggi Sietsma (@Amsteis) February 18, 2021

“It's a real problem, recognizes Dr Luc Duquesnel, general practitioner and president of the Federation of Doctors of France (FMF).

We have people eligible for vaccination after 75 years old, between 50 and 64 years old, and what about 65-74 year olds?

For the moment nothing ".

However "those who are at very high risk in this age group are eligible for the Pfizer vaccine, but the cases are very small: progressive cancer, blood diseases in treatment, transplants, trisomy 21 and rare diseases, lists Dr. Jean-Paul Ortiz. , general practitioner and president of the Confederation of French Medical Syndicates (CSMF).

That is to say very few people among the 65-74 age group ”.

But "it is because only messenger RNA vaccines have shown their effectiveness in people over 65, and that the choice was made in France, according to our vaccine capacities, to vaccinate people most at risk as a priority," or those over 75, recalls Dr Duquesnel.

Today, the problem is the shortage of vaccines, there is no shortage of vaccinators, but of doses ”.

Hope for new recommendations for AstraZeneca

For its part, the government is counting on an opening “between the end of March and mid-April” of vaccination for 65-74 year olds.

Professor Alain Fischer, the government's “vaccine man”, hopes that “people aged 65 to 74 can start to be vaccinated at the beginning of April,” he declared on February 18 on Europe 1. In addition, “ if the Janssen vaccine from Johnson & Johnson is indicated for those under 75 years old, this will make it possible to complete the vaccine arsenal for this age group ”, indicates Dr Jacques Battistoni, general practitioner and president of the MG France union.

However, "the news received from the Ministry of Health and the DGOS rather rely on a delay in delivery of one month for the Janssen vaccine", notes Dr. Duquesnel.

Hope could finally come… from AstraZeneca!

“So far, nothing has shown that it is not effective in people over 65, and the problem is, there is no evidence that it is either.

However, a Scottish study published on Monday would demonstrate the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the elderly, with a significant decrease in hospitalizations and severe forms of the coronavirus, which is the aim of the anti-Covid vaccination, ”underlines Dr. Duquesnel .

"The first results of this study conducted by researchers from the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow argue in favor of a good, even very good efficacy of AstraZeneca in people over 65 years old, and even in those over 80 years, even greater than the efficacy of Pfizer's vaccine ”.

"If these data are confirmed, the HAS could review its position, and move towards different recommendations for this age group, allowing it to have access to vaccination with AstraZeneca", believe Dr Ortiz and Duquesnel.

New data that could change the vaccination schedule in France.

"We may not have to wait for the arrival of a new vaccine to vaccinate 65-74 year olds, imagines Dr. Duquesnel.

Once we have vaccinated populations aged 50 to 64 with risks with AstraZeneca, and before opening it to the entire population under 65, we could imagine an intermediate phase during which the 65-74 years would be eligible for vaccination with AstraZeneca ”.

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