Covid-19: Olivier Véran announces the opening of the second booster dose for over 60s

In these times of presidential election, we hear much less about the Covid-19 epidemic, which nevertheless continues, with 161,950 cases recorded by Public Health France yesterday, Wednesday April 6. Invited on RTL, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran took the floor to make a point.

“A peak of the past rebound” but an epidemic still ongoing

“As scientists had anticipated, as we had announced, we reached a peak in the epidemic rebound a few days ago. It’s been going down for five days now, we’re not witnessing the tidal wave of 500,000 cases that we witnessed a few weeks ago“ first of all welcomes Olivier Véran. “I had announced a peak expected for early April. It was the case“.

But the minister remains cautious. “I am not saying that the epidemic is behind us, I continue to tell the French to protect themselves in the period. 150,000 contaminations per day, that’s not nothing,” he adds. Indeed, the epidemic is not over and in addition to the daily cases are added the deaths. For the day yesterday, 116 people died, bringing the total number of deaths to 142,930 in total, since the start of the pandemic.

“Validated” decision-making for the minister

This decline in the epidemic had been predicted by projections from the Institut Pasteur. Olivier Véran, on the basis of these predictions, had mentioned three weeks ago a climax to “120,000 – 150,000 contaminations per day at the end of March”before “a plateau in the days to come”.

The number of daily hospital admissions, meanwhile, is still increasing to more than 1,540 on average over seven days. But for the minister, “these figures “validate a posteriori our strategy which has allowed us to give more freedom to the French without endangering their health. No one is saying that the epidemic is over but that does not jeopardize the hospital” says the doctor.

A second booster dose for those aged 60 and over

The other announcement from the Minister of Health relates to the vaccine against Covid-19. Olivier Véran announces the opening of a second possible booster dose for people aged 60 and over, whose last injection dates back more than six months. “We know that a booster injection, when you are 60 years old and over, reduces the risk of hospitalization, resuscitation and death by 80%.he insisted, stressing however that this new dose is not mandatory.

Finally, for the Minister of Health, the French “can go and vote safely next Sunday, in the first round of the presidential election“.”There will be masks, hydroalcoholic gel, they can come with a pen, we know how to do it”.