Flu, Covid-19… Four questions about the vaccination campaign launched this Tuesday

Here we go again for a ride. The Ministry of Health is launching vaccination against seasonal flu and Covid-19 this Tuesday, as winter approaches. For these two diseases, more than 17 million French people are invited to protect themselves to limit the risk of serious forms, hospitalizations, or even death. Here’s everything you need to know.

Who is affected?

For this double vaccination campaign, the population is divided into several categories. First there are the people directly invited to be vaccinated. These are mainly the most vulnerable: “people aged 65 and over, those suffering from a chronic illness, pregnant women as well as people with severe obesity”lists Dr Sarah Sauneron, Deputy Director General of Health. This concerns 17.2 million French people, for whom the vaccine is fully covered by Health Insurance.

They are not the only ones. “Vaccination is also recommended for those around these people” as well as for health professionals and home help for people at risk, indicates Sarah Sauneron. More generally, “any person who wishes to be vaccinated outside this framework can do so”even if it is not the target audience. However, for Covid-19, the last vaccination or infection with the virus must be at least six months old, a period reduced to three months for those over 80 years old.

With which vaccines?

For seasonal flu, three different vaccines have been ordered by France, adapted to the strain in circulation. They can be used “indifferently”assures Dr Sauneron. Some 12.5 million doses have been ordered.

On the other hand, for Covid-19, there are no more different vaccines that have gradually emerged during the pandemic. Only that of Pfizer/BioNTech will be used. France will receive a total of 13.9 million doses, of which 1.7 have already been ordered by pharmacies ahead of the start of the campaign. “In the event of greater needs, a mechanism for pre-reserving doses can be activated”specifies the Deputy Director General of Health. This vaccine is also adapted to the circulating strain, JN.1.

Can they be done at the same time and where?

To carry out both vaccines, there is no need to make multiple trips to a nurse, a doctor, a pharmacist or a midwife, all of these professions have the capacity to administer the doses. “Double vaccination can be carried out at the same time”says Dr. Sauneron. “In the case of two-stage vaccination, there is no minimum deadline to respect” between the first two doses of each vaccine.

The State still intends to carry out this double vaccination “a new habit, a reflex for entering winter”explains Dr Geneviève Motyka, doctor with the National Health Insurance Fund. “It is essential winter protection for people at risk. Both vaccinations are at the same level of importance, necessity and ease of execution.”

What procedure?

The majority of people called to be vaccinated have received in recent weeks “a care voucher” by mail. It is this document that allows you to go to a health professional to be vaccinated without paying a single cent. A reminder system by email and SMS is planned at the end of November for French people concerned by vaccination who have not taken the step by then.

They should be quite numerous, if the figures from previous years are confirmed. “Vaccination coverage for the over-65s for influenza has fallen (54% in 2023, compared to almost 60% in 2020), it is alarming”worries Dr Caroline Semaille, Director General of Public Health France. “The decline in vaccination coverage among health professionals is also alarming.”

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However, this trend was not confirmed for Covid-19: last year, 30% of those aged 65 and over had been vaccinated (and 36.9% of those over 80), compared to 25% a year earlier. (25.5% for those over 80). What will it be this year? First elements of response in the coming weeks…