For the injection of an additional dose of vaccine against Covid-19, the High Authority for Health (HAS) has recommended, in two notices published on Tuesday, September 20to administer indifferently one of the three vaccines adapted to the sub-variants of Omicron which were recently validated by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
In line with its previous opinionsthe independent authority which has guided the government in its vaccination strategy since the start of the health crisis recommends coupling this new campaign with that against the seasonal flu which will start on October 18.
As has been the case for several monthsthis additional dose is intended for people at risk of developing a severe form of the disease, i.e. all those aged 60 and over, immunocompromised patients regardless of their age, as well as those around them, pregnant women, children and adolescents at high risk, and finally professionals in the health and medico-social sectors.
In view of the epidemic resumption which began two weeks ago, the HAS recommends, however, for people at very high risk who have not received their second booster dose within the recommended timeframe – i.e. three or six months depending on age and the date of the last injection or infection – to request a new injection now. Only 30% of those over 60 have already received a second booster dose, and the rate of injection is at its lowest level for six months. “The original vaccines are still effective against severe forms; if you are too far from your last reminder, you should not wait an additional month », warns Dominique Le Guludec, president of the HAS.
Adaptation to the current threat
Vaccines approved on 1is and September 12 by the EMA are those developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna; they are called “bivalent” because they target both, like all the vaccines administered so far, the original strain of SARS-COV-2 – known as the “Wuhan strain” – and a type of Omicron sub-variant. While Pfizer-BioNTech has been approved for two vaccines, one targeting BA.1 and the other BA.4 and BA.5, Moderna has only received approval for its vaccine adapted to BA. 1.
These are not really new vaccines, since they use the same technology as those which have imposed themselves around the world to fight against Covid-19: messenger RNA. They have simply been updated to better match the current threat, born from the Omicron family, which declined in France first with BA.1, then BA.2, BA.4, and now the ultra hegemonic BA.5. In this they can be compared to the seasonal flu vaccines which are updated each year to take into account the viruses which are most likely to circulate during the winter.
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