Sanitary pass: nearly 800,000 people threatened by deactivation, for lack of a booster dose

Please note that the rules concerning the validity of the health pass will soon change. On January 15, anyone aged 18 and over who has not received their booster dose within seven months of their last injection will have their passports suspended. Since December 15, 2020, the measure has already been applied to people aged 65 and over.

Contacted by TF1 / LCI, the Ministry of Health had, on December 9, 800,000 people eligible for vaccination at the booster dose before January 15. If they do not reach out in the next four days, these hundreds of thousands of French people could have the unpleasant surprise of seeing their pass deactivate.

However, this figure remains overestimated, warns the ministry: it does not take into account people who have a certificate of recovery and who, moreover, do not need this additional injection.

To receive his booster dose, it was necessary to calculate five months after the second injection for the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines. Since January 3, the government has reduced the delays. Everyone can receive the injection three months after having stretched out their arm for the last time, and up to seven months after, to maintain their sanitary pass. If the reminder is not received within the specified period – between three and seven months – the vaccination certificate is deactivated after one week.

However, as of February 15, the deadlines will change again. From this date, it will be necessary to carry out its recall at the most four months, and no longer seven, after its second dose, to extend the validity of the passport. And if currently, it is still possible to carry out antigenic or PCR tests to keep it, this will soon no longer be the case when the health pass will be transformed into a vaccination pass. The bill allowing this change is, today, examined by the Senate before leaving in the hands of the deputies for a final adoption. The government hopes for its implementation on January 17 at the latest.

According to figures from Public Health France, as of January 9, 28,364,991 people have received a booster dose. In addition, since the start of the vaccination campaign, 53,267,068 people have received at least one injection (i.e. 78.9% of the total population2) and 52,020,924 people now have a complete vaccination schedule (i.e. 77.1% of the total population).