2023-09-15 06:50:15
The formulation of the vaccine booster planned for this fall targets the Omicron XBB.1.5 variant which was supplanted during the summer by a replacement, EG.5.1. (Nicknamed Eris).
©CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU / AFP
New variants
While two new variants have been detected, who are the people who have an interest (or not) in being vaccinated.
Atlantico: In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has approved new Covid vaccines. How important is this right now?
Antoine Flahault: Covid has not disappeared, its responsible coronavirus continues to circulate and mutate. Covid hospitalizations and deaths are on the rise once more in the United States, although we are only in mid-September. It did not take more to launch the vaccine booster campaign in the United States, a country which has recorded more than a million deaths from Covid since the start of the pandemic.
With the arrival of autumn, Covid-19 infections are on the rise once more, particularly in France. With the appearance of new variants, what should we fear?
Covid remains a formidable infectious disease among people at risk of serious forms. It is a virus which causes persistent forms called long Covid in 10% of infected people. No one therefore wants to contract Covid and the authorities certainly do not want to be faced with new hospital saturations. Last year, three epidemics appeared together in the fall, seasonal flu, Covid and RSV, creating a tense situation in December and January for European health systems. If we can try to avoid such a situation this year, no one will regret it.
Should new vaccines arrive on the French market? How effective is it on new variants?
The problem we face is twofold. On the one hand, the immunity of the population, and in particular those of people at risk of serious forms, decreases with the time that separates us from our last vaccine injection or from a past infection with the coronavirus. On the other hand, the coronavirus is mutating at a faster rate than manufacturers can keep up with to design and produce new vaccines.
The formulation of the vaccine booster planned for this fall targets the Omicron XBB.1.5 variant which was supplanted during the summer by a replacement, EG.5.1. (Nicknamed Eris). Fortunately, however, the first laboratory tests carried out seem to indicate good protection conferred by the new vaccine, because Eris, which is a descendant of XBB, remains close to XBB.1.5 in terms of its genome. But, of course, no clinical experience yet guarantees its effectiveness. We find ourselves in a situation very similar to that of the flu vaccine which each year relies on the probable circulation of variants of the flu virus and not on clinical effectiveness proven by experience. Last year it was somewhat the same case, and it worked rather well since the people hospitalized for Covid were more often elderly or immunocompromised people who had not received a booster vaccination in the fall.
Who are the individuals who should absolutely receive a Covid booster? Is everyone affected?
North American health agencies are recommending booster vaccinations once morest Covid for everyone, from the age of six months. European agencies recommend booster vaccinations in people at risk of severe forms. They list those over 65, immunocompromised people, people with co-morbidities, pregnant women, and people caring for these people at risk. In France, however, the booster vaccination will remain free for all people aged over six months who request it.
There are not many scientific arguments today to decide between the approaches on both sides of the Atlantic. It remains to be seen whether there will be enough doses for all those who will be recommended this booster vaccination or who request it in the fall. However, it also remains to be seen whether this 2023 recall campaign will be supported by the public concerned. Last year, that wasn’t really the case.
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