Faced with the resumption of the Covid-19 epidemic, the government has decided to bring forward, like other European countries, its new vaccination campaign: from Monday October 2 it will concern the populations most at risk, with new vaccines.

“The virus is circulating, each of us can see cases around us. The epidemic is here,” the Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau, declared to Agence France-Presse (AFP) in mid-September, to justify this decision to finally accelerate the system.

Initially, vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, focused on the most vulnerable, was to be carried out at the same time as that against the flu, from October 17. But the virus has once again entered the back-to-school calendar, after resurfacing in the heart of summer.

Over 65s

There is, however, no doubt about the rebound of the epidemic, confirmed by the few indicators still available. Thus, according to the Sentinels network – made up of doctors and pediatricians reporting health data – last week, the incidence of Covid-19 cases presenting respiratory signs “continued the marked increase observed since mid-August”.

Faced with this situation, the government requested the opinion of the committee for monitoring and anticipation of health risks (Covars), which recommended in mid-September “access to the vaccine booster as soon as possible”.

Vaccination will mainly target those over 65, vulnerable people, suffering from co-morbidities, pregnant women, nursing home residents or even people in contact with vulnerable people. Any other person wishing a booster will be able to claim it free of charge, provided they respect a deadline of six months after their last injection or Covid infection. This vaccination can be carried out in town, by a doctor, a pharmacist, but also a nurse, a midwife, or even a dentist.

“Reboost immunity”

“We are doing well to move forward with the recall campaign,” said Etienne Simon-Lorière, virologist and head of the National Center for Respiratory Infection Viruses at the Pasteur Institute, to AFP. “There is currently a relatively intense circulation of the virus: if many people are infected, we run the risk that, among them, there will be fragile people who end up in hospital,” continues this specialist.

For this new campaign, messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, adapted to the very widespread XXB.1.5 variant (Omicron sub-variant), are recommended as first line, regardless of the vaccine previously administered. They should be more effective against the different variants currently circulating the most, in particular EG.5.1.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended in June that vaccines be updated to target the XBB strain of the virus, currently in circulation.

Since the beginning of September, the monovalent Comirnaty omicron XBB.1.5 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech has been available. The manufacturer has planned more than 10 million doses, he told AFP. For its part, the Moderna laboratory only recently obtained authorization from the EMA for its new vaccine, but assures “that it is ready to supply it in France for the (…) autumn campaign”.

For people who do not want or cannot benefit from mRNA vaccines, it is possible to use VidPrevtyn Beta, from Sanofi, and Nuvaxovid, from Novavax as a booster. The latter, adapted to XBB.1.5, is expected for November.

“The updated vaccines should make it possible to better target the variants circulating today, but other sub-lineages have already emerged since their conception,” notes Etienne Simon-Lorière. In any case, “anything that can make it possible, on the one hand, to boost the immunity of part of the population, and on the other hand to contain viral circulation, reduces the opportunities for mutations of the virus, which could ultimately create surprises,” continues the virologist.