“An error from a medical point of view”, points out Éric Caumes

For Éric Caumes, nothing justifies the entry into force today of a vaccination pass in France. Friday guest of the show Europe Morning, the infectious disease specialist who practices at the Hôtel-Dieu hospital in Paris pointed out “an error from an epidemiologist, public health and medical point of view” to manage the health crisis, at the microphone of Dimitri Pavlenko. “At the time of Delta, this could be conceivable. But at the time of Omicron, it is inconceivable because the vaccine does not prevent circulation in the general population”, added the infectious disease specialist on Europe 1.

The vaccination pass, an “electoralist” measure

If vaccination “prevents entering hospitalization and intensive care”, Éric Caumes underlined that the number of daily contaminations – nearly 300,000 again this Thursday – shows that this does not restrict the circulation of the Omicron variant, which represents 75% of cases. in France against 25% for Delta, he also estimated. The government nevertheless wishes to set up the vaccination pass to push the non-vaccinated French people to do so, and to force the nearly 600,000 who have not taken their booster dose.

For Éric Caumes, this measure is electoralist. “We are in the electoral campaign. The anti-vax affair is also the same. It is neither medicine nor public health”, tackled the infectious disease specialist on Europe 1, before continuing : “It’s a display and split marker”.

A fourth “essential” dose for the most fragile

Despite the apparent non-dangerousness of the Omicron variant, Éric Caumes nevertheless indicated that vaccination was essential for fragile people, with the arrival of the third and fourth doses. “It seems essential to me. What we are discovering with this coronavirus, and no doubt that others are also circulating, is that an infection does not confer definitive immunity, just like vaccination”, he explained at the microphone of Dimitri Pavlenko.

The infectiologist referred to “labile immunity”. “After five or six months, the immunity conferred by the vaccine has become bad, so we must maintain vaccination in people at risk”, explained Éric Caumes, insisting that “young people are not at risk” . “I think we made a strategic mistake: we should have focused on people who are really at risk, that is to say the over 60s and the most fragile,” explained the professor, who warned that it was necessary “already to get in working order for the fourth (dose)”.

The Omicron variant is “uncontrollable”

If he opposed letting the virus circulate before, Éric Caumes explained “that Omicron has changed the situation. I see that this virus is uncontrollable. It is a headache in schools, colleges and high schools. So, we have to put the package on people who have not received the third dose. There are people at risk by the millions who have not received the third”, he assured on Europe 1 .

The infectiologist wanted to reassure the French who have just received their booster dose: “(The fourth dose) is not necessary (now). They will need it in four or six months if they have not caught the Covid in the meantime because otherwise they will not need doses, it will act as a booster shot”. For him, this last remark must be a component of the future vaccination pass. “It must take into account the natural infection because it is probably more effective than the vaccine in protecting against the severity of subsequent infection,” he defended.

To conclude, Éric Caumes stressed that it was beneficial for vaccinated people to catch the virus to give them natural immunity. “The vaccine is effective in avoiding going to the hospital, but is not effective in preventing the circulation of the virus. This is why the vaccine pass does not make much sense with Omicron”, supported the infectiologist at the Hôtel-Dieu hospital in Paris.