French vaccination rates will rise in 2023, but they ‘still have to improve’

Positive signs, but still a long way to go. Vaccination rates among the French have improved in 2023 but “still need to improve” against some infections, especially those on the rise such as measles, according to a report published by the French Health Ministry on Monday, the start of European Vaccination Week.

In infants, the health agency notes “a significant increase in vaccination coverage with the newly recommended immunizations.” Against meningococcal B, nearly 75% of children born in 2023 received at least one dose at eight months, compared with almost 49% of children in 2022. Against rotavirus, one of the causes of gastroenteritis, about a third of children born in 2023 have been vaccinated against meningococcus B. The first cohort for which vaccination is recommended received at least one dose at eight months, SPF indicates.

“Strengthen the vaccination process”

Mandatory vaccination coverage for infants is generally high, but progress in measles control is insufficient and still below the 95% target. Due to the “resurgence of preventable diseases such as measles” and the arrival of millions of foreign visitors during the Olympic Games, “it is especially necessary (…) to increase vaccination for all children, adolescents and young adults born after 1980 who would not have received the full two-dose regimen” , says the agency.

Among teenagers, the proportion of people vaccinated against meningococcal C rose sharply in 2023, to 48%, up from 43.8% in 2022. As for adults, coverage of flu and Covid-19 vaccinations “remains insufficient among at-risk adolescents.

In the 2023-2024 season. Just over half of people aged 65 years and older (54%) were vaccinated against influenza, i.e. down 2.2 points from the year before, and just over a quarter (25.4%) of those under 65 are at risk of serious illness, or 6.2 points less. Only a third of people aged 65 and over have been vaccinated against Covid, against which a campaign was launched last week to restart vaccinations for vulnerable groups.

This 2023 report does not include data on vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) infections, which will be added “soon.”

Vaccination adherence is “high”

Another lesson: Vaccine adherence has “stabilised” in mainland France “at a high level”. More than 8 in 10 people overall favor vaccination, according to the French Ministry of Health. This share (83.7%) appears “broadly stable” compared with 2022 and 2021 (84.6% and 82.5% respectively) and higher than pre-Covid levels between 2010 and 2019, according to the Barometer health” 2023, survey systems with representative samples. . However, strong socioeconomic disparities remain.

While the share of people with very favorable attitudes toward vaccination (34.7%) increased from 2022 and returned to 2020-2021 levels, “vaccination adherence remains lower among people with the highest degrees or weakest incomes,” notes SPF. And for the first time since the Covid pandemic, this support is trending lower among older people.

Hesitancy towards certain vaccines mainly concerns Covid (29% of 18-75 year olds in mainland France oppose it), ahead of flu (6%), hepatitis B (4%), HPV (3%).