The vaccination campaign for children aged 5 to 11, started in mid-December in France, is extremely slow. Spain, which started its campaign around the same time, administered first doses to more than half (53%) of children in this age group, compared to thirteen times fewer (4%) in other side of the Pyrenees. Even Germany, yet quite vaccine-skeptical, administered four times more (17%) first doses than France. Italy went seven times faster than us, at 28%. The United States, which certainly started earlier, is at 30%.
The Academy of Medicine has, however, just recalled the benefits of vaccinating children: although less likely to develop serious forms of Covid than adults, they are nevertheless more and more likely to be hospitalized. More than 2,800 children with Covid went to hospital during the first three weeks of January in France. As indicated by the Academy of Medicine, the majority of them did not suffer from comorbidity.
In critical care services, too, the level is five times higher than during previous Covid peaks: 109 children are currently in intensive care. And of the 23 children aged 0 to 9 who have died from Covid in France since the start of the pandemic, almost half (10) of the deaths have taken place during the last three weeks. However, the vaccination of children protects very well against serious forms, but also against pediatric inflammatory syndromes (Pims), which are more and more frequent, as well as long Covid.
Why is vaccination in France so slow? The country started its vaccination campaign very discreetly, unlike Spain, where the Minister of Health communicated widely to promote it. And a small number of vaccination centers offer to vaccinate children: less than 300 throughout the country. For a long time it was very difficult to find an available slot. Even today, it is frequently necessary to travel about fifty kilometers to have one’s child vaccinated. Most parents look to have their children vaccinated on weekends, but that’s when vaccination windows are at their sparsest.
No back-to-school postponement
The sometimes erratic decisions of the administration did not help: it was first necessary to have the agreement of one of the parents to vaccinate his child, then of both, then again of only one. Groups of doctors had asked for a postponement of the start of the school year in January to allow in particular the vaccination of children. They were not listened to by the government.
The French Pediatric Society did not help the speed of vaccination either, constantly minimizing the contagions and the severity of the contamination of children. Its president still claimed in November that the children were not contagious, and expressed reservations in December about the vaccination of the youngest.