Vaccination against Covid-19: the challenge of the third dose

The fight against Covid-19 is a ” war “, had warned Emmanuel Macron in March 2020. In this last return of the five-year term, the Head of State can be delighted to have won the mother of all battles: that of vaccination. By convincing 50 million French people to be vaccinated, the country was able to face the fourth wave of the pandemic this summer by avoiding the drastic measures of the past such as the closures of bars and restaurants, curfews and confinements, assured, Wednesday, September 29, the spokesperson of the government, Gabriel Attal.

But the “war” is not over and a new threat is looming. The French who were the first to have access to vaccines, namely the oldest but also the most at risk due to co-morbidities, their immune defense gradually weakens, six months after the injection of the second dose. To avoid ruining vaccination efforts, this population over 65 needs a booster dose. Evading this recall exposes this population to contracting serious forms of the disease and rekindles the threat of an embolism of the intensive care units of the hospitals. According to the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, between 3 and 4 million French people out of a total of 18 million have already been requested for this recall. So far, only 1 million have received a third dose. ” It’s not sufficient, alarmed Olivier Véran Wednesday on France Inter. The sooner we take this third dose, the faster we will get out of this pandemic. “

How to convince them not to relax? The health pass, which must be extended until summer 2022, does not plan to take into account a third dose that has become necessary. “It may be necessary to change the pass”, thinks Thomas Mesnier, LRM deputy for Charente and former emergency doctor. At this stage, the government prefers to rely on the diligence of the French and a communication campaign deployed since a fortnight on the radios and soon available on television. The provision, from 1^er October, the Pfizer vaccine for city medicine, in pharmacies and in treating physicians and then in nurses, should also help.

No warning signal has lit up yet, but the health ministry acknowledges monitoring the file ” closely “. “On health management, we have no right to the fault of edging”, Stanislas Guerini, LRM’s delegate general, regularly attests… Especially a few months before the presidential election.