By akademiotoelektronik, 29/09/2022

COVID-19: The variant of the virus detected in France, the vaccine has arrived

The variant of the Covid-19 virus, detected in the United Kingdom, has arrived in France. A first case of contamination with this mutation of the virus was confirmed in Tours on Friday, in a Frenchman usually residing in the United Kingdom. The man is asymptomatic and has been isolated at his home, the health ministry said. This is officially the "first contamination with the VOC 202012/01 variant of the Covid-19 virus" detected in France.

The man had arrived "from London on December 19" and was "taken care of" at the hospital two days later. “The health authorities proceeded to contact-tracing (tracing of contacts) of the health professionals who took care of the patient and to the search for his contact persons at risk, to carry out their strict isolation”, it is specified. .

Read also: Covid-19, a foretaste of serial pandemics?

A more contagious variant

Like other European countries, France, which has already paid a very heavy price for Covid with more than 62,000 deaths, had feared for several days the presence of the variant of the virus within its borders. And this despite the reconfinement of London and part of England, as well as the precautionary suspension of cross-Channel links and then the introduction of compulsory tests to enter French territory.

Last Monday, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran admitted that it was "possible" that the variant was already circulating in France. A similar case has been reported in Germany, in a woman arriving by plane from London, and in Lebanon, also in a London passenger.

According to several studies presented in the United Kingdom, the new variant is more contagious than the original strain. One of them estimates that this contagiousness is "50% to 74%" higher and that this could have consequences on the number of deaths and hospitalizations linked to Covid-19 across the Channel. But nothing demonstrates at this stage that this variant leads to more serious forms.

A better resistance of this variant to the vaccines which have started to be distributed in the United States, the United Kingdom, and which are expected all over the world, would represent a worst-case scenario. But this is not the most likely hypothesis in the eyes of scientists.

Read also: Mutation of Covid-19: nearly 50 countries suspend arrivals from the United Kingdom

The vaccines have arrived in France

The confirmation of the first case in France comes just before the launch of the vaccination campaign, which starts on Sunday in France, as in the other countries of the European Union .

The first 19,500 doses of the vaccine intended for France arrived early Saturday morning, under police escort, at the central pharmacy of the Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), in the Paris suburbs, in a refrigerated truck from the Belgian Pfizer factory. Other French sites were to be delivered during the day, in the Lyon region, in Lille and Tours.

The first 3,900 bottles received by the AP-HP are notably intended for its establishments: three of them were to be delivered by courier on Saturday to the long-term care unit of the René-Muret hospital from Sevran (Seine-Saint-Denis), where vaccination will begin on Sunday, with a few elderly people and at least one volunteer caregiver. Six other bottles from the same stock will go to the geriatric center of Champmaillot dependent on the CHU of Dijon, second place of the symbolic launch of the campaign.

Read also: Logistics, regulations...: last straight line for the EU before the first vaccinations

1 million French people vaccinated during the first stage

This vaccine, called Comirnaty, requires very specific logistics since it must be stored at -80°C. It can then be stored between 2 and 8°C for a maximum of five days.

"A vaccine delivery schedule will be determined each previous weekend to avoid losses", explained to the cameras the head of the hospital pharmacy department of the Hospitals of Paris, Franck Huet, who hailed a "historic" day. SATURDAY. "It's a moving moment," added Anne Darchy, duty pharmacist.

The campaign for the 7,000 nursing homes in France and other establishments for the elderly, their residents and caregivers likely to develop serious forms of Covid will not start on a large scale until early 2021.

Around one million people will be offered the Comirnaty during this first stage of the French vaccination campaign, which is due to take place over January and February.

Read also: Covid-19: the vaccination campaign in France will start on Sunday

Wafaa ESSALHI (AFP)

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