Illustration of a person getting vaccinated.

-

AFP

  • To date, France has messenger RNA vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, and the viral vector vaccine from AstraZeneca.

  • Every vaccine has its followers and critics, and some would like to be able to choose which serum they receive.

  • But for now, each vaccine is reserved for target populations according to their age and state of health.

To be vaccinated or not, that is no longer the only question.

Admittedly, one in five French people has not yet made a decision, according to the Cevipof barometer published on Monday.

But already, half of them (49%) intend to take the plunge.

Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca are currently the three anti-Covid vaccines available in France.

A triptych to which could soon be added the vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson.

Between new messenger RNA vaccines, conventional viral vector vaccines, at one dose or at two doses, each serum has its specificities.

For those who have decided to be vaccinated against Covid-19, another question then arises: can we choose our vaccine?

"I want to be able to choose"

The first to be authorized and distributed on the French market: the vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, both with messenger RNA and currently administered primarily to the elderly.

Vaccines resulting from a new technology and which have a record efficacy rate of 95% and 94.1% respectively.

What to seduce more than one.

"To choose, I would prefer to receive the vaccine from Pfizer or Moderna, because their technology, although recent", seems safe and has the highest efficiency, says Audrey, in her thirties, who will have to wait this summer at least. opening of vaccination to the general public.

“I am rather of a fearful nature, but I do not agree with the skeptics who criticize RNA vaccines that they were developed too quickly.

When overnight, researchers around the world are working on the same subject with unlimited budgets, inevitably, the results are arriving faster than ever!

"

A point of view that does not share the leader of the Insoumis, Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

“I want to be able to choose,” he said a few weeks ago.

I am not reassured by a process which is quite new and whose consequences we do not know.

I prefer traditional forms of vaccination, ”he added.

The traditional vaccine is the one developed by AstraZeneca, which is viral vector.

Like those from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, it requires the injection of two doses a few weeks apart.

In France, the High Authority for Health (HAS) has decided to reserve this vaccine for people under 65, due to the lack of data on its effectiveness on people over 65.

The caregivers were the first to receive it, and the occurrence of side effects after the first injection discouraged some of them from receiving the serum from the British laboratory.

“Some caregivers had flu-like symptoms, fever and body aches after the first injection, and were arrested, which is why the hospitals of Brest and Morlaix in Brittany decided to stop the vaccination with their caregivers with the 'AstraZeneca, in particular so as not to hinder the smooth running of services because of stoppages, recalls Dr Jean-Paul Hamon, general practitioner and honorary president of the Federation of Doctors of France (FMF).

But rest assured, these are not serious adverse effects ”.

"For now, the only choice is to get vaccinated or not"

Starting Thursday, people aged 50 to 64 with co-morbidities will be able to be vaccinated, and will also receive the AstraZeneca vaccine.

In his general practice, Dr Hamon is preparing to administer the British vaccine to his patients.

“I have the case of a patient eligible for vaccination who told me that she did not want the AstraZeneca vaccine.

So she will wait!

However, this vaccine is effective, ”adds the doctor.

A study published on Monday by the University of Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland shows that the anti-Covid vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca-Oxford administered as part of the vaccination campaign in Scotland have resulted in a drop in the risk of hospitalization linked to the coronavirus in this nation of the United Kingdom.

This study indicates that four weeks after the administration of a first dose, the risk of hospitalization was reduced by 85% with the Pfizer vaccine and by 94% with that of AstraZeneca, compared to people who did not receive the vaccine. vaccine.

"There is so much talk about vaccines that patients are ultimately well informed and wonder about the merits of each of them, and some have a very precise idea," explains Dr Jacques Battistoni, general practitioner and president of the MG France union.

I explain to them that it is very simple, for the moment, the only choice is to be vaccinated or not ”.

Because for the moment, the vaccines are distributed according to the populations, their age and their state of health.

“Patients aged 50 to 65 with co-morbidities and caregivers under 65 have only one possible vaccine: AstraZeneca.

As for the over 75s, they have no choice either, since they can only receive the RNA vaccine from Pfizer or Moderna, explains Dr Battistoni.

So today the situation is relatively simple.

I hope that the next authorized vaccine, that of Janssen, will have the indication up to 75 years old, to vaccinate 65-75 year olds, to complete the vaccine arsenal.

But in the coming months, the situation may change, says Dr Battistoni.

The older ones - who now only receive RNA vaccines - will have been vaccinated, and there will be more vaccines on the market, so more deliveries.

So, perhaps, the possibility of choosing between several vaccines will be offered to the general public ”.

Health

Coronavirus: How will vaccination take place among general practitioners from Thursday?

Health

Coronavirus: Hospitalizations sharply reduced in Scotland thanks to vaccination

  • Covid 19

  • Anti-covid vaccine

  • Vaccination

  • Health

  • Coronavirus