Health pass and 3rd dose: why the link between them is not unanimous – The HuffPost

There should be no question this time of decreeing a new containment or curfew. If Europe is once again, according to the WHO, “the epicenter of the epidemic” with probably half a million additional deaths by February and countries like Germany see the number of cases explode, France seems relatively untouched for the time being.

But as winter approaches, the rebound is definitely there. And one of the objectives of Tuesday’s intervention is to convince the last recalcitrant to be vaccinated and to approach the thorny question of the third dose. Less than half of eligible people, those over 65 and the most fragile, received their booster dose.

It will be about “revitalizing the vaccine campaign”, summarized the President of the National Assembly Richard Ferrand this Sunday, November 7 on France 3, and to “boost the demand of the French” eligible for the third dose. How to achieve this remains to be seen.

Third dose in the past or obligation for the most fragile?

Should vaccination be made compulsory for those eligible for the third dose? Condition the validity of the health pass to this reminder? Or announce a plan for a third dose for all, as in Israel and soon in Germany? Traveling to Montpellier on Friday, Prime Minister Jean Castex told AFP that it was the 2nd track that held the rope, and that the executive was thinking in priority about the track of a pass conditioned to a third dose.

“It’s a question of consistency. If after a while, the vaccine is no longer active and a booster dose is needed, there is a certain logic in linking it to the health pass ”, also this weekend Yaël Braun-Pivet , president (LREM) of the commission of laws in the National Assembly, on Franceinfo, even if Richard Ferrand tempered Sunday by affirming that this scenario was “at this stage not on the table”.

In any case, the idea is not unanimous, especially among scientists. The Academy of Medicine is thus opposed to this track which “goes beyond” according to her the role of the document in question. This measure “transgresses the role of the health pass which was to limit the risk of transmission of the virus and encourage the population to be vaccinated”, according to the Academy in a press release Friday. “It induces some uncertainty on the effectiveness of vaccination and gives rise to unjustified discrimination against the most vulnerable people who have already agreed to receive the first two doses of vaccine”, continues the instance.

Mircea Sofonea, lecturer in epidemiology and evolution of infectious diseases at the University of Montpellier, considers for his part, with The Dispatch, what to make obligatory the 3^e dose of vaccine for the most fragile people would be “a lever to be privileged”. This “to accelerate” this campaign and thus ensure the protection of these people. He recalls in particular that the immunity generated by the vaccine declines over time, hence the importance of strengthening vaccine protection.

Without going that far, Philippe Amouyel, epidemiologist and professor of public health at Lille University Hospital, cited by The Parisian, for its part calls on the government to first “convince” that the third dose is useful rather than “twist the arm” to the population.

It remains to be seen what the executive, which has requested the High Authority for Health (HAS), the steering committee for the vaccine strategy and the scientific council for their opinion, will decide. The answer will arrive no later than Tuesday in defense council, then during Emmanuel Macron’s speech.