Cevars: Brigitte Autran chairs

It was the immunologist Brigitte Autran who was appointed to chair the new committee for monitoring and anticipating health risks (Cevars), the body that took over from the Scientific Council created two years ago to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic; she was also a member. This new council will operate on a wider field. Its mission will be to keep a watch on all health risks, with particular attention to the consequences of global warming as well as the interactions between animals and humans (in particular zoonoses: diseases that pass from animals to man). This global vision, described as “one health” by its promoters, is increasingly defended by a number of public health specialists. “Diseases can be transmitted from animals to humans, or vice versa, or even boomerang back from one to the other,” detailed Professor Brigitte Autran in an interview given to Parisian newspaper. occasion of his appointment. “We have known this for a long time but without fully taking the measure”, and “today, public policies must take this fact into account”. The scientist was until now best known for her research on HIV, of which she is a great specialist. Brigitte Autran intends to compose the team of this committee by the start of the school year, which must include around fifteen scientists and an association representative. In the columns of Le Parisien, the professor spoke on the major topics of the moment: Covid, Monkeypox. “It is almost certain that there will be a wave in the fall”, she warned regarding the Covid-19. “You have to move towards “living with it”, explains Brigitte Autran. This does not mean accepting the dead or the seriousness of the disease. On the contrary.” She also wants to “activate the last levers” to limit the number of people who are not vaccinated or not revaccinated (without the booster dose). “The Committee will act and advise the government in this direction, to expand access to vaccines and effective drugs to prevent serious forms, such as Paxlovid.” On the Monkeypox, she considers that a “zero Monkeypox” strategy is possible, unlike that of “zero Covid””, she assured, calling for the acceleration of vaccination campaigns. “By its nature, its routes of transmission, it is a virus that can be controlled”.