Concern about the spread of coronavirus variants in eastern France has prompted an acceleration of vaccination in that region, as well as calls to suspend the rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to the health-care workers there who had been first in line to get it.
AstraZeneca vaccinations in France began only Feb. 6. But the French government’s top vaccine adviser, Alain Fischer, suggested in a weekend interview with the Journal du Dimanche newspaper that health workers in Moselle — where variants first detected in South Africa and in Brazil are suspected to be particularly widespread — should not receive that particular vaccine, one of three authorized in the European Union.
Instead, Fischer recommended administering either of the two authorized mRNA vaccines — one developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, the other by Moderna — as a “precautionary measure” because they allow individuals to obtain protection more quickly.
According to the paper, Fischer also cited the preliminary South African research finding that the AstraZeneca vaccine provided “minimal protection” against mild to moderate coronavirus cases caused by the variant known as B.1.351. The South African researchers left open the possibility that the vaccine may still prevent severe cases of the disease caused by the variant, but the South African government paused its rollout of the vaccine last week.
Both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have claimed their vaccines are effective against more-contagious variants of the virus.
The eastern region of France announced Monday that it would receive 30,000 additional vaccine doses from the government — all of them from Pfizer-BioNTech, according to France’s public broadcaster. It was not clear whether the choice was a deliberate response to the recommendation by the government’s top adviser. The French health ministry confirmed that it was sending additional doses to the region but did not immediately respond to a request for further details.
French health minister Olivier Véran said last week that he continued to support the AstraZeneca vaccine, saying it provided sufficient protection against “nearly all the variants.”
