The Minister of Health announced that people over the age of 60 could now benefit from a new dose of the vaccine, “if they are six months from their last booster injection”.
The second booster dose of vaccine against Covid-19 will be open to people aged 60 and over, whose last injection dates back more than six months, announced Thursday April 7 the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran.
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“We will be able to open this 2nd booster dose for French people aged 60 and over if they are six months away from their last booster injection“, without it becoming mandatory, said the minister on RTL. Until now, this dose was reserved for people aged 80 and over. An announcement made by Jean Castex in mid-March in the face of the rebound of the pandemic.
“We know that a booster injection, when you are 60 years old and over, reduces the risk of hospitalization, resuscitation and death by 80%. Even if this risk is lower today than it was with previous variants and when there was no vaccination coverage, there is a residual risk. We can reduce it by four, so we propose it“, argued Olivier Véran, based on a recommendation from the High Authority for Health.
European Union Authorization
This measure, which is therefore not mandatory, concerns 500,000 French people aged 60 and over who are six months or more from their last injection, explained Olivier Véran: “In times of circulation of the virus, it is as much a reduction of a hospital impact. We know that our hospitals need to breathe“. European Union health authorities on Wednesday gave the green light to a second booster dose of Moderna and Pfizer’s Covid vaccines for people aged 80 and over.
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They also deemed it premature to issue a recommendation for the younger population. However, more and more countries are opening up the 2nd booster dose – which corresponds to the fourth dose – to populations aged under 80, in a context of epidemic rebound. The Greek health authorities thus announced on Tuesday a fourth dose for “people over the age of 60, especially in the presence of an underlying disease“.
No restrictions for elections
Australia will do the same for those over 65. In addition, regarding the first round of the presidential election being held in France on Sunday, the Minister of Health confirmed that people who tested positive for Covid “can vote safely“. “There will be masks, hydroalcoholic gel, they can come with a pen, we know how to do it“, underlined Olivier Véran.
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On the consequences of the lifting of health measures, the minister replied: “We reached a peak in the epidemic rebound a few days ago, and we had anticipated this, which validated our strategy a posteriori, which allowed us to give more freedom to the French without endangering their health. The health peak will not be at the level we had known before.»
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