Getting vaccinated against the flu and Covid at the same time is the "annual reflex" that health authorities hope to encourage in France, especially among at-risk individuals who are still insufficiently protected, when the vaccination season begins this Tuesday.
One of the major challenges is to "establish the double flu-Covid vaccination" as "double protection for priority groups," summarized Sarah Sauneron, Deputy Director General of Health, during a press conference on Monday.
Doctors, nurses, midwives and pharmacists can administer both injections, which can be given in a row, but are not compulsory.
More than 17.2 million French people are particularly invited to get vaccinated against these two viral diseases which can, in some cases, have fatal consequences. The categories targeted as a priority are at risk of developing serious forms: those over 65, nursing home residents, people of all ages suffering from certain chronic diseases or severe obesity, pregnant women.
Vaccination is also recommended for caregivers and those around vulnerable people (seniors, infants, etc.).
While the seasonal return of the flu is well known, Covid-19, which causes several epidemic waves each year, has added a health risk to the autumn-winter seasons, when other respiratory viruses also circulate, such as the one that causes bronchiolitis.
Vaccination against influenza and Covid aims to "protect the most vulnerable, because it helps reduce serious forms and hospitalizations", but also to "reduce the pressure on a heavily strained health system", stressed the representative of the Ministry of Health.
Another stated objective: to increase the level of flu vaccination among seniors and caregivers, which is in decline.
"Vaccination coverage among those over 65 has decreased" compared to the previous season, warned the Director General of Public Health France Caroline Semaille, judging that "this is alarming because the patients hospitalized and in intensive care are those over 65."
– Counter “weariness” and “beliefs” –
This decline was also evident among seniors living in nursing homes, where flu vaccination coverage last season was the "lowest measured in recent years," noted Capucine Ulian, medical advisor to the General Directorate for Social Cohesion.
Also "a little alarming": the decline in flu vaccination among health professionals, including doctors (traditionally more vaccinated than nurses and nursing assistants), according to Caroline Semaille.
Against Covid, the proportion of seniors vaccinated has increased over the past year to around 30% last season, but "remains low," she pointed out.
To explain the insufficient vaccination against flu and Covid, Sarah Sauneron mentioned a "fairly well-documented post-Covid vaccine fatigue and a belief that vaccination does not work, or not always."
However, the Covid and flu vaccines are "well adapted to the virus strains circulating" this season and "the benefits far outweigh the risks," with "mainly pain at the injection site" as side effects, Caroline Semaille assured.
For Covid, this year, a vaccine targeting the Omicron JN.1 variant, similar to the ones that have been dominant for several weeks, will be available. Initially, only the Pfizer-BioNTech serum will be available.
For the flu, three vaccines from different manufacturers, designed based on the strains of the virus expected to circulate most this season, can be used interchangeably.
It is advisable to vaccinate before the active circulation of influenza viruses, because once vaccinated, the body needs two weeks to form the necessary antibodies.
The impact of the flu and Covid in France over the coming months remains unknown.
Last season, the flu returned to a level close to that of before the Covid-19 pandemic, after two years heavily impacted by Covid.
However, it caused 14,000 hospitalizations and more than 1,860 deaths, a figure probably lower than the reality because it is based on incomplete death registers.
English 
French