Third dose, pass, mask … What the Defense Council must decide – The HuffPost

Benoit Tessier via Reuters

CORONAVIRUS – The vaccine booster, for whom and when? The Defense Council of Wednesday, November 24 could provide answers to this question made urgent by the acceleration of the Covid-19 epidemic, including the contamination of Jean Castex is a symbolic example.

This government meeting will allow “to address the question of the extension of the third dose of the vaccine, considering the recommendations that we have obtained from the various scientific and health authorities”, indicated on Tuesday the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, during the launch of the Restos du Cœur winter campaign.

According to BFMTV, a speech by the Minister of Health or the Prime Minister during the week to take stock is not excluded, while the number of daily cases (calculated as an average over 7 days) has doubled in nine days.

Cases confirmed in the past 24 hours stood at 30,454 Tuesday evening, the highest since August 11. The figures for Tuesday are however still high since they include people who could not be tested on Sunday (only 5,000 positive cases were identified on Monday evening). Another indicator of epidemic recovery: closed classes. There are currently 6,000, up from 4,000 last Friday.

For now, the hospital remains protected from a massive influx of patients, which the authorities attribute to vaccination. But the figures are starting to rise: on Tuesday there were 8,300 Covid patients hospitalized in France, including 1,400 in critical care, against 6,800 and 1,100 two weeks previously.

• Third dose, for whom and when?

On Friday, the High Authority for Health (HAS), responsible for inspiring government policy, recommended inject the booster dose (most often a third dose) from the age of 40, six months after full vaccination.

Logically, the government should therefore endorse this measure on Wednesday.

“There are very few 40-year-olds who are already six months away from the second dose, it will happen gradually in December. So it gives us the opportunity to organize ourselves if the decision is ratified tomorrow ”, commented Olivier Véran on Tuesday, while refusing to“ reveal in advance decisions that have not been taken ”.

Two other advisory bodies, the Scientific Council and the Vaccine Strategy Orientation Council, have gone even further. They are considering a reminder for all adults, since the effectiveness of vaccines against infection declines over time.

For now, the recall only concerns people over 65, people at risk and caregivers. For 50-64 year olds, the booster will be available from December 1, as President Emmanuel Macron announced in early November.

“The question is: ‘How do we accelerate after the opinions of experts?”, A government source told AFP on Tuesday, according to which we must “make sure that the recall schedule is clear for all with installments of” age”. However, it is “not sure that there is an announcement on the recall for all adults” as of Wednesday, added this source.

• Third dose and health pass

Systematic reminder for all does not achieve consensus among scientists. Some argue that two doses are still very effective against severe forms and that the urgent need is to vaccinate those who have not had any dose (6 million people).

One of the other issues will be to know from when the booster will be necessary to extend the health pass according to age.

For those over 65, this mechanism should in principle start December 15th. From that date, their pass will be deactivated if they haven’t had a booster dose six months and five weeks after their previous injection. But the president of the Scientific Council, Jean-François Delfraissy, assured Monday to have “pushed” to advance this date to “the middle of next week”.

In addition, the Defense Council could decide to make the mask compulsory again in certain places, including theaters.

The strengthening of health pass controls is also being studied. On Monday, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin wrote to the prefects to ask them “firmness” during checks in restaurants. “There are as many instructions as there are establishments, we must clarify”, indicated a minister participating in the Defense Council in BFMTV.

See also on The HuffPost: Olivier Véran did not miss this LR deputy who was strangling the government’s “headless” health policy