From June 9 it will be easier for nationals of the European Union to enter France: if they are vaccinated, they no longer need a negative PCR test.
This is a good thing for the doctors polled by
20 Minutes
, who say that the data is now quite clear on the reduction of transmissibility when one is vaccinated.
Given the progress of vaccination in Europe, this will not affect many people at first anyway.
And here is the color! Long after most of its neighbors, France has decided to classify each country from green to red through orange according to their level of circulation of the coronavirus and their vaccination coverage. Unsurprisingly, we find in the red zone the countries concerned for a few weeks already by the almost total closure of the borders (South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, India…). The whole of the European Union is for its part in the green zone. No need to have a compelling reason to come to France from these countries, all you need is a negative PCR test dating back less than forty-eight hours. Better: if you have been fully vaccinated, no more screening is mandatory. But is this measure completely safe from a health point of view?
"It's a good idea and a source of significant savings", for the doctor specializing in epidemiology Michaël Rochoy, member of the collective "On the side of science".
Same story on the side of Anne Senequier, doctor and co-director of the Observatory of Global Health, for whom "it is a logical continuation".
We now have hindsight on the effect of vaccines on contamination.
The various studies carried out since the start of vaccinations at the end of 2019 would allow us to take this “risk”: “Vaccination is a process usually thought of as individual protection but also societal.
If there was any doubt about societal protection at the start of the year, studies have now shown that vaccination does indeed reduce the transmissibility of the disease.
"
Holes in the racket
In this context, requesting a negative PCR test in addition to a total vaccination is today a little superfluous. “A PCR test only gives a response at a time T,” recalls Michaël Rochoy. You can have been negative one day and be positive the next. The vaccination is much more longitudinal. “In short: even if the doctrine of systematic PCR tests is useful when there is no vaccine, it remains a strategy comprising many holes in the racket. "If you are vaccinated, the risk that you will be positive tomorrow is greatly reduced, or even almost eliminated," adds Anne Senequier.
Among the rich countries, where the majority of the 2 billion injections carried out so far have been administered, the European Union remains the area with the lowest vaccination coverage. A little less than 20% of the population of the European Union is fully vaccinated compared to 40% in the United Kingdom and the United States, for example. In Israel, 60% of the population received their doses of the vaccine. Collective immunity is not for tomorrow in France, but that would not necessarily represent an obstacle to this lack of PCR test: “The number of people doubly vaccinated will only increase, thinks Michaël Rochoy. And probably quickly, since 40% of the French population has already received at least one dose. "
According to the figures, even if this could quickly increase, this measure will only concern a few people for the moment.
And, on the eve of the start of summer, probably not many holidaymakers: “Because only adults are vaccinated for the moment in Europe, it is a measure that primarily targets cross-border workers. , and business people traveling across Europe.
Not the families who go on vacation and probably have minors, analyzes Anne Senequier.
It is to help the economic side at European level.
The European Union's philosophy of free movement of people, hampered since the start of the pandemic, will thus find more reality.
Society
Vaccinated Europeans will be able to enter France without a PCR test from June 9
Health
The European health pass should enter into force on July 1
Coronavirus
Health
Covid 19
Anti-covid vaccine