Covid-19 in France: vaccination opens to the most fragile children
An 11-year-old child receives a dose of Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in Chicago, December 11, 2021. AP - Nam Y. Huh
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This Wednesday, December 15 is the kickoff day in France of the vaccination against Covid-19 of the most fragile children from 5 to 11 years old, on a voluntary basis.
This medical act is recommended by the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS).
What vaccine will the children receive?
Who is concerned ?
What is the expected benefit?
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The vaccination of children
aged 5 to 11 called "at risk", that is to say likely to develop serious forms of Covid-19, opens this Wednesday, December 15 in France, on a voluntary basis.
They will receive the
Pfizer-BioNTech
vaccine
, which is less dosed than that administered to adolescents and adults;
the quantity of active principle, the famous messenger RNA, is 10 micrograms, instead of 30.
Two injections are planned, 3 weeks apart. While overall, children are much less at risk of developing a severe form of Covid than adults, some are still more exposed than others. And it is to them that the High Authority for Health (HAS) recommends the
vaccine
. These include children with chronic hepatic, cardiac or respiratory disease, obesity, diabetes, sickle cell disease or even trisomy 21. Approximately 360,000 children are affected.
According to a study relayed by the HAS, around 20% of children under the age of 17 who suffered from a severe form of Covid had comorbidities, while they represent only 6% of their age group.
Note that children aged 5 to 11 living in contact with particularly vulnerable people now also have access to vaccination.
Vaccination for all children aged 5 to 11 could, for its part, start next week, if the HAS and the National Consultative Ethics Committee decide favorably.
Their opinion is expected in the coming days.
Covid-19: in French hospitals, the situation is still under control, but mistrust
Like most neighboring countries, France is facing, at the end of 2021, the fifth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. The new Omicron variant is very contagious, and the number of cases is bound to increase. But should we fear a situation in hospitals comparable to the violence of the first wave? Professor Olivier Bouchaud, head of the infectious and tropical diseases department at the Avicennes hospital in Bobigny, does not think so.
“
I do not believe that we are in a situation that brings us back to the tsunami of the first wave which still haunts our memories.
We are in a situation where, fortunately, the vaccination rate in France is rather quite satisfactory and continues to increase,
”he explains (80% of French people with at least one dose, 76.4% with two doses) .
The first elements (“
which will be refined over time
”) suggest that the Omicron variant remains sensitive to a vaccination schedule (messenger RNA type) at three doses.
"
There is no reason to fear in France that we are in a situation that is completely beyond us
," adds Professor Bouchaud.
But beware, winter could be harsh all the same.
“
With the increase in the number of cases and, proportionally, more serious forms, we may find ourselves in the coming weeks with a saturation of intensive care services.
This at a time when the hospital staff will be in great difficulty because they are exhausted by the crisis.
It will then be very difficult to increase the number of intensive care beds,
”warns the specialist.
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Coronavirus
Health and medicine
Vaccines
France