The High Authority for Health is in favor of a fourth dose for those over 65 at risk, when the government has only opened it to over 80s, without waiting for its opinion.
Further extend vaccination to limit mortality from the wave of Covid-19 that has begun. The Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS) recommends offering the second booster vaccine – therefore the fourth dose – to people aged 65 at risk of a severe form of Covid-19 and “who wish”. This recommendation is included in one of the opinions on vaccination, treatments and management of Covid-19 published this Friday.
To base its opinion, HAS relies on the analysis of several French and international epidemiological data. “As of March 10, 2022, the over 60s thus represented 80% of patients hospitalized with Covid-19”, in France. Today, the country has 20,600 people hospitalized with Covid-19.
In addition, the protection conferred by the third dose tends to decrease after 3 months in those over 60 years old, according to the data. “from the United States and the United Kingdom”. But, the good news comes from Israel. In this country, which has already launched a fourth dose campaign, the second booster “divides the rate of confirmed infections by 2 and the rate of severe forms of the disease by 4”and “the tolerance data are reassuring”. The Covid has not disappeared and countries are taking steps to deal with this pandemic which is taking hold over time.
Differences with the government
Without waiting for the opinion of the HAS, the government has decided to open the fourth dose to people over 80 since March 13. 150,000 French people have received a fourth dose to date. But only 73% of those aged 80 and over have received their third booster dose. Vaccination coverageinsufficientfor the HAS.
Another discrepancy between the executive and the health agency, the time between the two reminders. The government has set it at three months, when the HAS advises to increase it to six months “so as not to reduce the adherence of the population to vaccination by too frequent reminders“.
In its opinion of February 18, the guidance council for the vaccine strategy recalled that Germany recommends an additional booster dose for people over 70, severely immunocompromised people and residents of retirement homes, and the medical staff. In Sweden, the fourth dose is recommended for people over the age of 80 and residents of nursing homes or people receiving home care.
The acceptability in question
The vaccination campaign in France will perhaps accelerate with the resumption of the epidemic. “The incidence rate, which was still at a very high level, has started to rise again (+25%). The R-effective, greater than 1 (1.11), confirms the acceleration of the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 on the territory.recalls Public Health France in its weekly epidemiological update of March 17.
For the moment, the HASconsiders that it is not relevant to currently recommend the administration of a second booster dose in the general population”. Corn “an in-depth reflection is underway”, she explains. To refine the future vaccine strategy, HAS is studying takes into account “the imminent arrival of new vaccines and vaccines adapted to the various circulating variants, the issues of acceptability by the population as well as all the immunological and clinical data available”.