Five million more people in France offered extra Covid booster
The government has followed the advice of health authorities to include pregnant women and people with certain health conditions
The second booster dose campaign has been extended to five million extra people in France
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France’s government has confirmed that a second Covid booster will be offered to more vulnerable groups, following advice from the health authorities.
This will extend the campaign to an extra five million people.
These are:
This follows advice from health service quality regulator the Haute autorité de Santé (HAS) which recommended that these people receive the additional dose.
Read more: Covid vaccine in France: Second booster recommended for more groups
France’s health ministry has said that it decided to further roll out the booster offer in view of an “epidemic context which remains worrying, with very contagious variants”.
There are already three groups – equating to 17 million people – who are eligible for the second booster dose:
The second booster dose should be offered to over-80s, care home residents and severely immunosuppressed people from three months after the first booster dose.
All other eligible groups should have it six months after their first booster.
The government does not envisage that the booster campaign will be further extended, the health ministry saying: “At the moment, there is not a probable scenario which [would see] the second booster extended to all”.
Everyone over the age of 12 in France is eligible to receive a booster dose if they had their first two vaccines – or one in the case of the single-dose Janssen jab – more than three months ago (or six for 12 to 17-year-olds).
Yesterday (July 20), there were 89,982 new Covid cases reported in France, 29.5% fewer than the week before. However, the infection rate remains 1,127 per 100,000 people, and the positivity rate of tests taken is 33.3%, according to Santé publique France.
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