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Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director of Doctissimo)
Will we soon have to go through the vaccination box again? According to infectious disease specialists, this is a possible option. The fourth dose of vaccine, already open to people over 60, could be generalized from September. The opinion of Dr Gérald Kierzek, medical director of Doctissimo.
Even though most of the pandemic is behind us, new variants of Covid-19 continue to circulate. In this context, the most fragile people have already been able to receive a fourth dose. But should we expect it to be extended to the rest of the population? The question needs to be asked.
Covid-19: a 4th dose is possible
According to resuscitator Bruno Mégarbane interviewed on FranceInfo, we must not rule out the possibility of having to “redo a 4th dose for the entire population, but we will see at that time depending on the variants that will circulate”.
According to the expert, the variants that will circulate in the coming months will be “decisive”. But for now, no new worrying variant seems to emerge.
In reality, “All the new variants and sub-variants look very similar to the generation before and, in fact, the immunity that we have acquired and that we maintain thanks to these reinfections makes it possible to protect the population against the severe forms of the disease “he analyzes.
Since April 7, the second booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine has been open to people aged 60 and over, whose last injection dates back more than six months. In total, this measure concerns 500,000 French people aged 60.
“The risk-benefit balance is unfavorable”
For Doctor Kierzek, emergency doctor and medical director of Doctissimo, generalizing the fourth dose would be a bad idea.
“We must move from a generalized strategy to a personalized strategy. The benefit of a 4th dose only applies to people at risk. For others, the risk-benefit balance is unfavorable. Unfortunately, we are still unable to assess immunity and therefore vaccine efficacy.” says Dr Gérald Kierzek.
The question that also arisesis to have a vaccine adapted to circulating and mutant strains, which is not currently the case”adds the emergency doctor.
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Covid: the effectiveness of the booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine would decrease after three months
According to a new study published in the journal The Lancet Respiratory Medicinethe protection offered by a booster dose of Pfizer against the Omicron variant would decrease from the third month following the injection.
“Booster doses of Pfizer/BioNtech against Covid-19 significantly improve protection against Omicron variant, but three months after injection, efficacy against hospital admissions decreases”says American epidemiologist Sara Y. Tartof of the Kaiser Permanente Health Consortium, lead author of the study.
In summary, a booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine would offer effective protection (around 85%) against hospitalizations in the three months following the injection, but this would drop to around 55% beyond three months.
In this context, an extension of the 4th dose to younger adults would be “much too hasty“, according to Professor Jean-Daniel Lelièvre, immunologist, interviewed by Le Point.