Orange with Media Services , published on Saturday August 22, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.
“Who to vaccinate and how”? This is the question the anti-Covid-19 vaccine committee and the scientific committee have been asking themselves since the start of the antiviral treatment race last July. While the first research results are promising, experts in France are wondering what strategy to adopt to launch a vaccination campaign.
The first results seem promising.
While WHO hopes to end the pandemic in less than two years, the vaccine race anti-Covid-19 is launched. But if a vaccine is found against the virus, will it have to be made mandatory?
In Australia, the United States or France, vaccination strategies diverge. On Wednesday August 19, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrisson considered that such treatment should be made compulsory, “to the extent that it may be compulsory”, while in the United States, it is not a question, as precised RTL which reports the words of Anthony Fauci, director of the American Institute of Infectious Diseases, and adviser to the White House: “we cannot force, nor try to force people to be vaccinated”, he has hammered Wednesday. “We can make it mandatory for certain groups, like medical staff,” he said nonetheless.
And France? If a vaccine exists, it will not be mandatory a priori, according to an opinion dated July 9, issued by the CARE group, the Covid-10 vaccines committee and the scientific council. In this report, experts believe that “compulsory vaccination is neither desirable nor possible”.
“Reluctance to vaccinate the French”
Faced with “reluctance to vaccinate the French”, the group of experts fears a possible failure of the vaccination campaign, as in 2009-2010 against influenza, if citizens do not feel concerned and sufficiently informed.
Hence the need to set up a vaccination strategy and limit the spread of the epidemic as much as possible. A mixed multidisciplinary group made up of members of several expert groups was thus formed to reflect on a vaccination policy and find a balance.
The opinion considers that it will in particular be necessary to define the priority populations to be vaccinated, such as the elderly or caregivers.
On July 27, the Scientific Council specified in another opinion that this group will only issue preliminary reflections, and that they will have to be continued by the Haute Autorité de Santé and the Haut Conseil de la Santé publique.
Preparation work that will take time. “It is imperative to allow time for a rigorous evaluation” of both the efficacy and the safety of candidate vaccines before their large-scale use.
On Saturday August 22, the toll of the novel coronavirus pandemic exceeded 800,000 deaths worldwide, as many countries around the world face a epidemic new cases and increasing restrictions.
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