A booster vaccine against Covid-19 for all adults can be considered because of the deterioration of the situation in France, estimate the two advisory bodies created by the government on the occasion of the pandemic. According to the Scientific Council and the Council for the Orientation of the Vaccine Strategy (COSV), this extension of the reminder to all adults, six months after vaccination, could make it possible to “curb the epidemic and reduce the number of serious forms”.
“Restore vaccine effectiveness” to “control the epidemic”
The COSV is the first to have put forward this idea in an opinion dated Friday. In a separate opinion dated Saturday and made public on Monday, the Scientific Council chaired by the infectious disease specialist Jean-François Delfraissy also supports this hypothesis. “To restore vaccine efficacy to levels allowing control of the epidemic, the generalization of the booster dose to the entire adult population could be an effective approach”, estimates the COSV chaired by immunologist Alain Fischer .
In France, the booster dose (which is most often a third dose) currently only concerns people over 65 and people at risk of serious forms of the disease (as well as caregivers). This dose will be required to extend their health pass from December 15.
A booster dose offered to 50-64 year olds on December 1
On November 9, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron announced that the booster dose would be offered to 50-64 year olds from December 1, without even waiting for the opinion of the High Health Authority (HAS) responsible for inspiring executive policy on these issues. .
In its opinion, the Scientific Council pleads for the booster dose to become necessary to extend the health pass for 50-64 year olds, “according to the same modalities” as for the over 65s, “but with an appropriate time frame. “. On Friday, the HAS recommended injecting the booster dose from the age of 40. “The extension of the recall to those under 50 will be studied soon,” said Minister of Health Olivier Véran on Twitter.
Following the opinion of the @HAS_healththe vaccination booster against Covid will be open to people aged 50 and over from the beginning of December, as announced by the President of the Republic.
The extension of the recall to those under 50 will be studied soon.— Olivier Veran (@olivierveran) November 19, 2021
A decline in the effectiveness of vaccines over time
The current acceleration of the epidemic, combined with the decline in the effectiveness of vaccines over time, is likely to lead to “a significant increase in the number of daily admissions to hospital and critical care”, underlines the Council orientation of the vaccine strategy in its opinion.
“Even if the risk of serious forms remains much higher for non-vaccinated people (…), the absolute number of vaccinated people hospitalized in conventional care or critical care is far from negligible”, he continues to justify the principle of a recall.