The Minister of Health Olivier Véran on February 8, 2021, was vaccinated with a first dose of AstraZeneca.
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Thomas Samson / AP / SIPA
Germany, France, Italy… In all, eight European states have suspended AstraZeneca vaccination, after reports of possible side effects.
These countries are awaiting a decision from the European Medicines Agency, which will hold an "extraordinary meeting" on Thursday on this vaccine, after claiming that the benefits outweighed the risks.
"In this context where vaccine hesitation seemed to be on the way to decrease, there is a risk of reactivation of mistrust," says Laurent Chambaud, director of the School of Advanced Studies in Public Health.
Barely a few weeks after its entry on the European market, the AstraZeneca vaccine is stopped short.
Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday a suspension of vaccination, pending a European decision on possible health risks.
It is a blow to the vaccine campaign against Covid-19, which was largely based on this serum authorized in France since February 6.
What is the impact of this precautionary measure on the vaccination campaign?
20 Minutes
takes stock.
How many people are vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine each day?
In all, 5,135,616 people received at least a first dose of any vaccine in France.
Of these, 1,359,051 had received at least one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, as of March 14, according to the CovidTracker site.
If we do the math, 619,335 people were vaccinated during the week of March 7 to 14.
"It's a lot," comments epidemiologist Catherine Hill.
"If we do not vaccinate these 620,000 people in the coming week, these are as many people who risk catching Covid-19.
This is completely crazy.
"
Does this suspension put a stop to the fight against Covid-19 in France?
Mickaël Rochoy, general practitioner and member of the collective "On the side of science" believes that this measure does not change much, given the shortage of doses for doctors.
“He didn't hang anything up per se: for example, in my office, I can have only one vial (of twelve doses) for the next 20 days.
This decision is a hide-and-seek, to distract from the lack of vaccines.
"
For the caregiver, there is an emergency in the face of the epidemic: “The risk is very low, and the benefit is very high.
If we were in the situation of New Zealand, with almost zero covid, we could put a vaccine aside.
But if we accept to have 300 deaths linked to the epidemic per day, we must accept to take a certain risk of vaccination, ”he explains.
"I think it's a bad decision," said Catherine Hill, who points to the benefits of vaccination.
“If we look at nursing homes, where more than 80% of residents have been vaccinated, we still went from 200 deaths to 20 deaths per day,” she recalls.
What does it change for people who have received a first dose?
The second dose of AstraZeneca vaccine has not yet started to be administered in France because the time between two doses is 12 weeks.
In the event of a European moratorium on the AstraZeneca vaccine, will they receive their second dose?
Still difficult to answer this question.
“The effects that have been reported are very short term after vaccination.
A priori, these people have already had the effects of the vaccine, ”comments Laurent Chambaud, director of the School of Advanced Studies in Public Health (EHESP).
"Are people going to have a second injection with AstraZeneca or with another vaccine, depending on their complementarity?"
It remains to be determined.
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Can this decision explode mistrust of vaccines?
This is one of the fears.
On January 5, before the start of the vaccination campaign, 58% of French people questioned did not want to be vaccinated.
A figure that has decreased in recent months.
These are the questions that Olivier Véran wanted to appease on Tuesday.
“I am one of those French people who received an AstraZeneca injection.
There is no particular step to take, people are not in danger because they would have been vaccinated by AstraZeneca ”, declared the minister.
"In this context where vaccine hesitation seemed to be on the way to decrease, there is a risk of reactivation of mistrust," says Laurent Chambaud.
“This is what we will see in the coming weeks and months.
Just in what we hear since Monday, the impact is already present.
The media cover this element extremely extensively.
Moreover, because the impact on the populations will be strong anyway, ”said the specialist, who remembers a precedent.
"In the past, there is the example of vaccination against hepatitis B." At the time, after announcements of cases of multiple sclerosis potentially due to vaccination, the government decided to suspend the vaccination campaign .
“The impact had been extremely strong,” recalls Laurent Chambaud.
“We no longer vaccinated adolescents in France.
It took over ten years for studies to show there was no connection, but the damage had been done.
"To build confidence, the specialist recommends" to publish the data, and above all, to explain them, in the most transparent way possible "to patients.
“This is how we will manage to limit the deleterious effects of such an announcement.
"
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