A third dose of the vaccine against covid-19 (almost) mandatory for all those of legal age. France will provide the third injection to those over 18 years of age, instead of those over 65 as it did until now. This was announced this Thursday at noon by the French Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, in an expected press conference after the health situation has worsened significantly in recent days. A decided bet for the supplementary dose that goes against what has been advocated in recent months by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The French administration will require the supplementary injection five months after the second dose. This will be necessary to have a health passport, essential in France to participate in most leisure, cultural and sports activities. If immunized people do not inject the third dose seven months after the second, their certificate will no longer be valid. Consequently, they will not be able to go to bars, restaurants, cinemas, museums … Which will practically establish the obligation of the supplementary injection.
“Over time, the effectiveness of the vaccine decreases. We know that with covid-19 vaccines, vaccination must be renewed and thus immunity multiplies & rdquor ;, assured Véran in the press room of the Ministry of Health in Paris. “France is facing a fifth wave and this fifth wave will be stronger than the fourth this summer. The autumn and winter conditions facilitate the circulation of the virus & rdquor ;, warned the minister, who recalled that “without the vaccine we would already be confined & rdquor ;.
“Europe is once again the epicenter of the epidemic & rdquor ;, added Jérôme Salomon, Director General of Health. The centrist executive hopes to stop the “fifth wave & rdquor; with an ambitious, but also restrictive, vaccination policy. The negative tests, which ceased to be free in October and which also serve to temporarily possess the covid-19 pass, will only be valid for 24 hours to have the health passport, said Véran. This measure basically means turning this certificate into a vaccination passport. The French authorities also contemplate vaccinating children between 5 and 11 years old, once the European Medicines Agency has validated it this Thursday. But childhood vaccination will not be applied in France “before 2022 & rdquor ;.
“No lockdowns or curfews & rdquor;
“will not advertise them ni confinements, ni curfews, no business closings or travel limitations. We have decided to reconcile freedom and responsibility & rdquor ;, affirmed Véran, thus discarding the toughest restrictions. President Emmanuel Macron is aware of the discomfort that they would arouse in a part of the population, five months before a presidential election in which his political future is at stake.
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In recent weeks, the COVID-19 situation has deteriorated considerably in France, despite being the seventh state in the European Union that has vaccinated the most, with more than 77% of the population you received at least a dose. The neighboring country registers an average of 20,000 daily cases and in the last two days it exceeded 30,000.
Despite this epidemic acceleration, hospitals are not in critical condition. Coronavirus patients occupied 8,500 beds on Tuesday, 1,750 of them in intensive care units. This pressure on the Gallic health system is not not at all comparable to that of the worst moments of the health crisis. Nor to the wave that countries like Germany or Austria are facing.
Reference-www.elperiodico.com