For the third dose of vaccine against Covid-19, it will be necessary to rely exclusively on Pfizer / BioNtech in France.

French health authorities recommended Friday to wait for an opinion from the European Medicines Agency before possibly using the Moderna vaccine.

In its last opinion of October 6, the High Authority for Health (HAS) recommended for this recall the use of the Pfizer vaccine, without ruling out the use of Moderna, which has not yet obtained marketing authorization. (AMM) for the recall.

“The announcements from various health authorities have highlighted the unknowns that remain on the dose and the target population for the recall by Spikevax® (Moderna) and justify waiting for the European body to provide the details expected in the context of the 'AMM under review,' writes HAS now in a press release on Friday.

Moderna suspended for the youngest in Scandinavian countries

At the beginning of October, the Scandinavian countries suspended vaccination via Moderna for the youngest or even, in Iceland, for all adults. They announced that they would bring to the attention of the European Medicines Agency studies on a possible increased risk of myocarditis and pericarditis associated with the use of this vaccine. In any case, these risks remain "rare and spontaneously resolving in almost all cases", underlines the HAS.

"But this context, the currently moderate circulation of the virus and the work in progress at the European Medicines Agency to define the target population (what age limit) and especially the dosage (full or half-dose) lead the HAS to return more strictly to a position of caution, ”she indicates. Position which therefore consists in waiting for the opinion of the European Medicines Agency before continuing to use the Moderna vaccine as a booster dose. In contrast, in the United States, a committee of experts this week recommended a booster dose of Moderna's anti-Covid vaccine for certain categories of populations, a month after making the same decision for Pfizer's vaccine.

The recall campaign in France concerns those over 65, the immunocompromised and their relatives, people at risk, such as obese and diabetics, as well as caregivers.

In each case, you must have been vaccinated for at least six months.

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