The kickoff of the vaccination campaign against flu and Covid-19 is this Tuesday. This concerns just over 17 million French people. Among them, pregnant women, people with chronic illnesses, people suffering from obesity, but also seniors, whose vaccination coverage is declining.
This Tuesday is the start of the joint influenza and Covid-19 vaccination campaign. It particularly concerns the most vulnerable, such as those over 65. Vaccination is also recommended for caregivers and those around vulnerable people (seniors, infants, etc.). In all, more than 17 million French people are particularly invited to be vaccinated against these two pathologies.
This year, 52% of people targeted by the flu vaccination intend to be vaccinated against the flu this winter and 59% for Covid-19, according to a study published by Public Health France. Among the stated objectives, raising the level of vaccination of seniors whose vaccination coverage is declining. A vaccination which is obvious for Élisabeth, a retired nurse.
“We feel concerned. I find that at our ages, it’s useful. It’s not just for us, for others too, it’s useful. You must not hesitate,” she says.
One in three seniors does not plan to be vaccinated
And yet, for Jamel, 76 years old, it’s obvious: it’s no. “If there is an epidemic, well… I am for the vaccine. But if there is no epidemic, no. We simply have to take precautions, that’s all,” he says .
Jamel, like one in three seniors, therefore has no intention of immunizing himself against the flu. Ketti decided to stop everything after her third dose against Covid. “Never again. Because I’m tired of being inoculated with something I don’t know… I don’t want to,” she sums up.
So, to encourage our elders to get vaccinated, the best thing is to hammer home, according to Dr Faïza Bossy, general practitioner in Paris.
“It’s really repetition. In medicine, that’s it: we repeat the same message several times. But we also need to provide information that is informed and coherent,” she explains.
Remember, for example, that these vaccines make it possible to reduce diseases, or even prevent them. While not saturating hospitals, which are already overloaded.
Solène Leroux with Guillaume Descours