France decided on Monday to suspend "as a precaution" of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

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FRANCOIS GREUEZ / SIPA / SIPA

  • France announced on Monday the temporary suspension of vaccination with AstraZeneca.

  • A precautionary decision after reports of side effects.

    The European Medicines Agency must study them to establish or not a cause and effect link and rule on this suspension decided by a dozen European countries.

  • Dr Jean-Paul Hamon, Honorary President of the Federation of Doctors of France, answers questions from

    20 Minutes

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And it is the turn of Paris.

After a dozen European countries including Denmark, Norway and even Germany, France decided on Monday to also suspend the use of the anti-Covid vaccine AstraZeneca, after the reporting of "possible" side effects but without a proven link at this stage.

A suspension decided "as a precaution", pending the opinion of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), announced Emmanuel Macron at a press conference in Montauban.

The Head of State said "hope to resume soon" vaccination with this serum "if the opinion of the European authority allows".

"The EMA security committee will further examine the information [this Tuesday] and called an extraordinary meeting on Thursday to conclude on the information gathered and any other action that may be necessary," said in the aftermath. agency based in Amsterdam.

What to expect in the next few days?

Will vaccinators face a decline in confidence in the Anglo-Swedish vaccine?

"This risks complicating our work with the patients who are vaccinated", fears Dr. Jean-Paul Hamon, general practitioner and honorary president of the Federation of Doctors of France (FMF).

Is this decision to suspend the use of AstraZeneca the right one?

It is a decision of precautionary principle of protection of the political more than a principle of precaution of protection of the patient!

The French Society of Vascular Medicine indicates that there are only 24 cases of thrombosis declared out of 8 million people vaccinated in Europe, that is to say figures well below the expected incidence in the general population, and that it does not There is therefore no signal of increased complication with this vaccine.

Therefore, there is no need to interrupt vaccination with AstraZeneca for this reason.

We must not panic, and keep in mind the political motivations of these decisions: Germany, which interrupted vaccination with AstraZeneca on Monday, is in an election campaign.

And France, which in recent days still relied heavily on AstraZeneca for its vaccine campaign, announced its suspension just minutes after the German announcement, as if the Franco-German couple were held by a unity of position.

In any case, the government is taking refuge behind the opinion of the EMA, which will rule quickly.

The journey of this vaccine was already complicated enough, but won't it be even more difficult for vaccinators to reassure patients and caregivers eligible for vaccination with AstraZeneca?

It is certain, this suspension, even temporary, will complicate the life of the vaccinating doctors.

We risk being confronted with an increase in mistrust, and we will have to reassure patients more, show great pedagogy to explain the decision that the EMA will make on AstraZeneca, and to which we will comply.

But fortunately, patients trust us, and already during the first vaccination sequence in our practices, when possible side effects were already mentioned, there was no more mistrust or refusal.

Regarding the vaccination of caregivers and eligible professionals, we saw this Monday that the firefighters of Bouches-du-Rhône were suspending the vaccination of their staff with the AstraZeneca vaccine as a precautionary measure [after the hospitalization of 'a firefighter for a cardiac arrhythmia after his first injection].

For patients and caregivers alike, I think the situation will remain much the same.

And it should be noted that the proportion of vaccine refusals among caregivers is only 15 to 20%.

He cannot speak of generalized mistrust, that is wrong.

And some refuse the vaccine for fear that the occurrence of classic side effects, such as fever and body aches, will prevent them from working, at the risk of disrupting the smooth running of their service.

If the suspension of AstraZeneca is continued, what solution can be considered for all people who have only received a single dose of AstraZeneca?

It's a good question !

Fortunately, we still have a little time to answer it, since the health authorities recommend a delay of 9 to 12 weeks after the first injection to administer the second dose of AstraZeneca.

Obviously, the rule is to always administer the same vaccine to patients: a person who has received a first dose of AstraZeneca cannot receive a second dose of another vaccine, so if this suspension were maintained, we could not a priori switch to another vaccine, eg messenger RNA.

But the EMA recalled this Monday that the benefit / risk balance of the AstraZeneca vaccine remained favorable, so I am convinced that it will lift this suspension and that we will resume vaccination in the next few days.

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