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Be careful, however, with this erroneous discourse: meningococcal vaccines do not cause infectious meningitis, the most dangerous, clarified several experts interviewed by AFP.
Who is Denis Agret?
Montpellier doctor known for his opposition to vaccines against Covid-19, Denis Agret was struck off by the Order of Physicians. A sanction which took effect on January 1, 2025.
According to the full decision, cited in this article from Parisian (archived link here), Denis Agret is notably criticized for “of having minimized the pandemic, of having treated the authorities as ‘collaborators’ and ‘criminals’, of having criticized ‘toxic’ vaccination, or of having threatened to kill the director of the Regional Health Agency (ARS) Occitanie“.
During the pandemic, he shared many false statements on the alleged dangerousness of vaccines against Covid-19, verified by AFP here or here.
In a series of videos published on his social networks, Denis Agret has now affirmed since September 2024 that “meningococcal B and C vaccines cause meningitis“, while vaccination has become compulsory for babies since January 1, 2025.
The different meningitis
Meningitis is an inflammation of the meninges.the membranes that protect the brain and spinal cord“, explains an article published on the Vidal website (archived link here).
There are several types. Most often, they are caused by viruses (such as measles, mumps, herpes or influenza) or by bacteria – meningococci for example.
More rarely, meningitis can be caused by a fungus or a microscopic parasite. There are also non-infectious meningitis, “linked to an autoimmune disease or metastatic cancer“, details the article.
Bacterial meningitis is the most dangerous. Around one in ten people in the general population (but one in three adolescents) carry meningococci without any symptoms of the disease appearing. However, after infecting the respiratory tract, meningococci can spread through the body through the bloodstream.
In this case, they manifest in particular by a high fever and a stiff neck. This disease – unpredictable and devastating – can cause death in less than 24 hours, without rapid treatment. Properly treated, mortality remains 10%.
Meningococcal meningitis can also leave more or less serious after-effects: amputation, deafness, cognitive disorders, learning difficulties, etc.
After the cessation of health measures put in place during Covid-19, meningococcal meningitis experienced a “unprecedented rebound“, warned the Pasteur Institute in 2023 (link archived here), pushing the government to expand vaccination.
According to the latest figures, provided to AFP by the National Reference Center for Meningococci at the Pasteur Institute, more than 500 cases have already been recorded between January and November 2024a slight increase compared to the same period of 2023.
At the same time, the profile of the bacteria involved has clearly changed. The main meningococci are in fact separated into large families: A, B, C, W and Y. For a long time, B and C remained in the majority. This is still the case for B. But C has become marginal, clearly behind Y and W, the latter being particularly deadly.
The rise of these families of bacteria has been accompanied by an increase in unusual forms of infection (abdominal forms, bacterial pneumonia, arthritis, etc.), which are sometimes more difficult to diagnose.
Since January 1, 2025, vaccination against meningococci – all strains combined (A, B, C, Y and W) – has therefore become compulsory for toddlers, as explained in this AFP article (link archived here ).
In adolescents, a booster dose against A, C, W and Y is now recommended between 11 and 14 years of age, even if they received this vaccine at a young age.
Previously, only anti-meningococcal C vaccination was compulsory for children under one year of age; vaccination against B was only recommended. Among older people, vaccine C was recommended up to age 24, only if the person had not received it as planned when they were less than a year old.
Inactivated vaccines
Denis Agret says these vaccines are dangerous, but “meningococcal vaccines cannot cause infectious meningitis“, retorts infectious disease specialist Muhamed-Kheir Taha, specialist on the subject at the Pasteur Institute (link archived here), interviewed by AFP on January 2, 2025.
“These vaccines are not made from whole bacteria or live bacteria. These are pieces of bacteria, so there is no infectious possibility of getting meningitis.“, he explains.
“The vaccines currently in use are not activated vaccines. So there is no reason for them to transmit meningitis disease.“, joins Benjamin Davido, infectious disease specialist at Poincaré hospital in Garches (link archived here), contacted by AFP on January 2, 2025.
As proof of alleged dangerousness, Denis Agret brandishes the instructions for two vaccines – Neisvac (meningococcus C) and Bexsero (meningococcus B) – warning of the presence of meningeal irritation in the adverse effects. “So meningitis“, he says.
In one of his publications, he insists, regarding the new measures: “The obligation or incentive will concern nearly 9 million: 0-2 years + 15 24 years…dangerous.“
