INTERVIEW
The Covid-19 vaccination campaign, open to all over 70s this Saturday, continues to focus on those who develop severe forms of the disease, especially the elderly, while one in two people over 75 is not yet immune. But in hospitals, there is also a worrying rejuvenation of people admitted to intensive care, a sign “that the virus is circulating with exceptional intensity, much more than in previous waves”, according to Odile Launay, infectious disease specialist at Cochin hospital in Paris, coordinator of the Cochin-Pasteur vaccinology center and member of the “Vaccine Covid-19” committee.
Vaccination and the English variant define the impact of this third wave
“We are worried by the fact that younger people, without risk factors, can develop serious forms, be hospitalized in critical care and potentially die of this disease,” warns this specialist, who cites three reasons to explain that this third wave can hit people who are not yet sixty more severely. “The number of people affected is very high and, mathematically, the serious forms occur in a higher way in younger people”, develops Odile Launay.
According to her, the vaccination of a large part of the elderly, especially residents in nursing homes, can also give the impression of rejuvenating patients, the number of seniors at risk of developing complications being less than during the first two outbreaks. epidemics, last spring and fall. “The third element is that we now have an English variant in France, now in the majority. We knew after having observed it in the United Kingdom that it was more contagious, and therefore potentially more severe. It is therefore possible that it affects younger subjects more easily “, notes our infectious disease specialist.
“The role of older children and adolescents is major in the risk of infection”
Faced with the intensity of this new wave of contamination, and the inability of the restrictive measures taken since January to bring down the fever, some members of the opposition and scientists are calling for schools to be closed, at least in the 19 departments placed in semi-confinement. “We have data today which shows that the role of children, in any case older children and adolescents, is major in the risk of infection,” said Odile Launay. “A very recently published study by the Institut Pasteur in Paris shows that in families where there are children, and in particular if they are in college or high school, the risk of being infected for parents increases by 30 %. “
“This perhaps justifies, as some epidemiologists suggest, to close schools early in relation to the holidays in order to limit the circulation of the virus”, concludes the coordinator of the Cochin-Pasteur vaccinology center.
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