The list of people who will be invited to make a third injection of the Covid-19 vaccine at the start of the school year will be defined during an arbitration next week, the Ministry of Health said on Tuesday.

This recall could in particular concern people over 80 living in nursing homes.

The exact scope of people who will be offered a vaccine booster against Covid-19 at the start of the school year should be the subject of arbitration "next week", the Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday. "Today we do not have arbitration, or even a completely stabilized vision of the people who would be likely to be offered a third dose at the start of the school year," said the ministry during a weekly update on the vaccination campaign. These arbitrations "will be rendered in principle next week", the same source said.

"We are starting to have a scientific consensus" on a possible "weakening of immune reflexes" in some people "around nine months after the first injection", detailed the ministry. "And therefore it will possibly be necessary to revaccinate a certain number of people of nursing home type, people over 80 years old, people at very high risk of severe form, as early as nine months after their first injection, which could possibly have take place from September ".

President Emmanuel Macron announced on July 12 that a "recall campaign" would begin "at the beginning of September" for people vaccinated "in January and February", without specifying the exact outline.

It was based on two opinions from the Scientific Council and the Vaccine Strategy Orientation Council (COSV) published in early July.

People over 80

Both qualify as "reasonable" the proposal for a "booster of vaccination in people over 80 years living in nursing homes or at home" despite data "still limited", "given the first studies showing a drop in the level antibodies earlier in this population and the possible significant impact on the healthcare system ".

The COSV recommends adding people with a pathology exposing them to a "very high risk of developing a severe form of Covid" and mentions "additional data" to come from a study underway in Montpellier "on the level and duration of protection conferred by vaccination in the elderly ".

Asked about a possible expansion of the vaccine booster beyond these fragile people, the ministry said Tuesday that it was "one of the subjects on which the HAS must decide in an opinion expected at the end of August"

On July 16, the High Authority for Health felt that there was "no place for the moment" to offer a third dose to the entire population, for lack of "available data".

For the entire population, "we can wait a bit and see what the data will be on the persistence of immunity", also declared Monday the chairman of the orientation council of the vaccine strategy, Alain Fischer.

"84,000 third injections" already carried out

Currently, the third dose is only recommended for people who are immunosuppressed, such as people who have received an organ transplant and are on anti-rejection treatment.

To date, "84,000 third injections" have been carried out in this context, the ministry said.

Israel launched a campaign on Friday for a third dose of the vaccine for those over 60, and Germany intends to offer this booster from September 1 to the elderly and vulnerable. Sweden plans to offer a booster dose of the vaccine to "a large part of the population" in 2022, and could start with vulnerable populations as early as this fall. The World Health Organization (WHO) insists for its part on the need to increase vaccination coverage at the global level to control the pandemic, before considering the injection of a third dose.