Paris (AFP)
Can the vaccine manufactured by AstraZeneca be injected into the elderly?
The answer to this question, Tuesday, depends on the continuation of the vaccine campaign in France against Covid-19, which continues to weigh on hospitals.
During a press point at 5.15 p.m., the High Authority for Health (HAS) must render its verdict and say what place this new antidote, the third validated by the European Union, can take in the French vaccine strategy.
On Friday, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) authorized this product, developed by the British pharmaceutical group in partnership with the University of Oxford, for all adults.
But in several countries, such as Germany, Austria or Italy, the health authorities have expressed more or less strong reservations about its effectiveness for the elderly.
The stake is not trivial, because if AstraZeneca was controversial by announcing sharp drops in yields, 2.5 million doses are expected in France in February, including a first delivery of 450,000 doses at the end of the week, one indicates to the Ministry of Health.
If the HAS gives an unconditional green light, this supply would accelerate the vaccination of the elderly, which the available doses of the two other vaccines on the market (Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna) do not allow immediate coverage.
Last week, the government announced that it expected 1 million people to have received their first dose and 1.4 million the second in February, a far cry from the target of 4 million mentioned a few days earlier by the minister. of Health Olivier Véran.
- Logistics -
As a result of this shortage, in several regions, vaccination centers have had to postpone appointments already set for the first dose, around 50,000 according to the Minister of Health Olivier Véran.
In France, the only target of over 75s in the city, for whom vaccination has theoretically been open since January 18, represents 5 million people.
But the campaign is also aimed in particular at residents of nursing homes and all health professionals over 50 or at risk of serious forms of Covid-19, as well as people with certain pathologies.
According to a last assessment Sunday evening, there were 1.486 million first injections in France, and 47,137 second injections, while 2.6 million doses were received in France and 1.1 million are expected this week, still according to data of the ministry.
What if the HAS does not validate the AstraZeneca vaccine for the elderly?
"We will adapt our strategy, there is no shortage of audiences", between younger caregivers or other vulnerable people, responds to the Ministry of Health, where it promises to give answers quickly after the opinion of the HAS.
AstraZeneca's vaccine also has a big logistical advantage, as it does not need to be stored at very low temperatures (-70 ° for Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, -20 ° for Moderna) and can be transported more easily.
Suddenly, the authorities consider that the product can pass through the pharmacy network, like the flu vaccine, but only once it is available in sufficient numbers.
The HAS must also decide on this point.
- Variants settle -
While the government gave up at the end of last week to impose a new lockdown immediately, the coronavirus is still actively circulating in the country.
According to figures from Public Health France, there were more than 125,000 positive cases between Monday and Friday, the same number as these five days a week earlier.
But the English and South African variants, more contagious, are still worrying.
In Ile-de-France, "we were rather around 6% on January 7 (presence of variants in all cases) and we rose to 15/20% last week", the president was alarmed. of the medical commission of the Public Assistance-Hospitals of Paris (AP-HP), Rémi Salomon, on franceinfo.
"There will be an acceleration of the epidemic if we do not significantly do anything more", he added, while the whole country has been subject to a curfew at 6 p.m. for more than two weeks.
Margins are still reduced at the hospital, with 27,874 Covid-19 patients across the country (3,000 more than on January 10), a figure which is close to the peaks in two previous waves (32,000 and 33,000).
The situation is less critical for resuscitation, with a little over 3,200 patients (4,900 in the fall, 7,000 in the spring).
The rate of daily deaths also remains high, with 456 deaths of Covid-19 patients in hospital on Monday, or more than 76,500 people deceased (in hospital and in nursing homes) since the start of the epidemic.
© 2021 AFP