President Emmanuel Macron had proposed on July 12 booster shots from the start of the school year in September for “people first vaccinated in January and February” – but did not specify whether this included the whole population or just the vulnerable.
It fell to the head of France’s Vaccine Council Alain Fischer to clarify. A third dose will be given to the “fragile” and the “oldest” from the start of autumn, he told RTL radio on Monday.
This position is in line with what France’s Scientific Council proposed in July – “booster shots for over-80s, whether or not they are in nursing homes, as well as immunocompromised people among the general population”.
“That said, at present we don’t have enough data to discern just how long vaccines protect against Covid-19,” he continued. “Except in the case of immuno-suppressed people such as cancer patients and transplant recipients, several studies have shown that the antibodies they got from jabs didn’t last long.”
AC