Flu vaccination: what you need to know about the campaign that starts on October 22

Why did the flu disappear last year?

The fear relayed by the health authorities of a difficult cohabitation between two viruses, with common symptoms, had encouraged the French to be vaccinated en masse against the flu last winter. Until stocks are exhausted, which are insufficient, and lead to shortages. Coverage had reached 60%, a level much higher than the previous two years, below 50%.

But the virus, he never pointed the tip of his nose. Why ? “Firstly because of the successive confinements and barrier measures which prevented the flu from setting in”, relates Dr Jean-Louis Bensoussan, secretary general of MG France. “Then, the very strong presence of the coronavirus in the population caused the other viruses, including influenza, to go to sleep,” adds the representative of the first union of general practitioners.

Should we expect an upsurge this winter?

The fall viruses are back, it’s a fact: bronchiolitis, in toddlers, viral nasopharyngitis, small bronchitis. It’s a safe bet that the flu will also resurface in the coming weeks. “The very low circulation of the coronavirus today offers room for other viruses to proliferate. And the relaxation of barrier gestures, more difficult to apply in children, who are the main propagators of the flu, is an amplifying element, ”underlines Jean-Louis Bensoussan.

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This accumulation of viruses led the Directorate General of Health to advance the vaccination campaign by four days, considering that it “increases the risk of co-infection and the development of serious forms and death”. With the direct consequence: a potential saturation of hospitals which could lead to new measures of health restrictions. A hypothesis that gives the government and President Macron a cold sweat.

Pairing with the anti-Covid vaccine is it desirable?

The “two in one” is possible according to the Haute Autorité de santé. The co-administration of the two vaccines, against Covid-19 and against influenza, poses no danger according to the first results of a British study (ComFluCOV) and “does not induce any decrease in the immune response to either the other is vaccines ”. The only condition is that the two injections can be performed on the same day but in two different places – one vaccine in each arm.

The priority population targeted by the recall of the anti-Covid vaccine and against the flu being the same, the government hopes to kill two birds with one stone while 4 million eligible French people have not yet received their third dose of Pfizer vaccine ( it takes six months after the second dose).

“If the calendar coincides, why not?” Dr Bensoussan reacts. But the first feedback from my elderly, cautious patients who pay attention to their health, is rather to want to do the two vaccines separately. They prefer a short delay, especially since they have been told that it is necessary to space the time between the first two doses. They therefore misunderstand this slightly different discourse. ”