Covid-19 and influenza: the state wants to “accelerate” the vaccination of the most vulnerable

You should get vaccinated… and fast. Health Minister François Braun called on Tuesday to “speed up” vaccinations against Covid-19 and influenza, especially for the elderly and infirm, as recent campaigns have so far “failed to achieve their goals”.

“You are frail, you are in your 60s, you need to get a flu shot, you need to get a Covid shot,” said the Minister of Health, who visited Ehpad Albert du Bosquiel in Bondu (North) on the day of the opening of the flu vaccination for everyone after the stage. intended for a priority audience.

“You can get vaccinated from both at the same time. This is to protect themselves, and for those caring, it is to protect the most vulnerable,” the minister insisted, stressing that “the risk of Covid-19 is far from out of the question.” The “slowdown” of the epidemic is observed “for about three weeks with 260 cases per 100,000 inhabitants”, but “however, there are still deaths, yesterday there were one hundred deaths. (Monday) in France,” he lamented.

Goals not achieved

“We can no longer tolerate people dying from Covid because of our negligence or because they were not vaccinated,” he said. “Today we are clearly below our targets”: “only about 10-15% of the target people are vaccinated” against Covid-19, he regretted.

For influenza, the numbers are also “lower than we expect,” he said. “WHO recommendations – 75% of the target population” are vaccinated, but in France “for several years we have been lower”, but “we also die from the flu every year.”

“Double vaccination” against two diseases “allows you to have a better rate. This year we have 190,000 people who had both at the same time,” said Francois Braun.