Since the start of the pandemic, various pharmaceutical groups have scrambled to develop a vaccine against Covid-19. The list of laboratories in question is Moderna, Novavax, Sanofi, Janssen, Pfizer and BioNTech. Some are at the stage of final clinical studies, others like the vaccines from AstraZeneca or Sinopharm have been authorized by a few countries.
For now, two anti-Covid vaccines are available in France. The vaccine developed by the Pfizer and BioNTech laboratories was authorized by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Commission on December 21. The second vaccine is Moderna's. The EMA and the European Commission gave the green light for its launch in Europe on January 6. The High Authority of Health (HAS) in turn validated, on January 8, its use in France. The European authorization of this new vaccine has raised questions: will we be free to choose the brand of our vaccine?
Covid-19: will we be able to choose our vaccine?
The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, invited on the set of BFMTV, on January 7, explained that it will not be possible to choose the brand of the vaccine against Covid-19, if the level of effectiveness of the available vaccines is the same. This is the case with the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, which is estimated to be 95% effective, and Moderna's formula, which has been shown to be 94.1% effective. This rule is similar to that applied for other vaccines distributed in France, such as the influenza vaccine.
"Today, we have two validated vaccines, two messenger RNA vaccines (…) with the same efficacy, the same indications. There is no need to ask the question of choice", Olivier Véran pointed out. The Minister of Health clarified that France expects "fast enough" three other vaccines. "If the indications are the same as for the first two, you will be vaccinated by one or the other, without distinction, as will be the case throughout the world", he specified.
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