“From now on”, people aged “50 and over, including 65-75 years”, who suffer from “what are called co-morbidities, frailties”, will be able “to be vaccinated with AstraZeneca”. This will be possible at “their attending physician, in the hospital following them” or “in a few days in a pharmacy”, Olivier Véran announced on France 2 on March 1.

“For people who are 75 years old and over, it is always Pfizer or Moderna” which will be injected “in a vaccination center”, added the minister.

The government had initially reserved AstraZeneca for all health professionals, including those under 50, and two million people aged 50 to 64 with comorbidity (diabetes, hypertension, history of cancer. ..), who can be vaccinated at general practitioners since last Thursday.

Read also: Covid vaccines: we explain the controversy around the AstraZeneca vaccine

Established effectiveness

Many caregivers have shunned this vaccine. Side effects are still more pronounced in younger people. These are most often strong flu-like symptoms. Questions have also emerged about the effectiveness of this serum in countering the South African variant of the coronavirus.

However, a Scottish study we told you about in this article affirms that the vaccine developed in partnership with Oxford reduces the hospitalization rate by 81% for those over 80 years old, and even by 94% in the general population.

Mr. Véran thus argued on France 2 that the High Authority for Health (HAS) “now considers, since today, that all the vaccines available to us in France, AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna, have a efficiency qualified as remarkable “.

More and more French people vaccinated

The extension of the use of AstraZeneca will make it possible to reach “2.5 million French people”, indicated the minister.

In addition, for people eligible for the RNA vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna) who have already been infected with Covid, “a single injection will suffice” from now on. “This is good news for (…) the French who will be able to recover” the second dose, said Mr. Véran.

“In the month of March alone, we plan to offer a first vaccination to 6 million French people,” he said, which “will amount to 9 million in total since the start of the campaign”.