Month: July 2021

Of the many concerns surrounding Covid-19 vaccinations, one that has gained ground recently relates to fertility. This is what the scientists, doctors and experts are saying.
In a March report released by the Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group, a subsidiary of the UK’s National Health Service, the very first line reads: “medical experts and scientists agree that it is not possible for the vaccines to affect fertility.”
This is a pretty definitive statement, and one that should carry a certain amount of weight, yet rumours persist about the Covid jab adversely affecting fertility in both men and women.
“There is no evidence what-so-ever to show that having a Covid-19 vaccine affects fertility in women or men,” explained Rehan Khan, a consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Barts Health in the UK. “I understand that people have seen information that suggests they might, but this is not the case. That information isn’t evidence-based and no heed should be paid to it.”
The suggestion that fertility could be affected by the jab cropped up on social media early this year, and the claims spread like wildfire. There was talk that the vaccine caused an immunity to the virus’s spike protein affecting fertility, but experts say when a person contracts the actual Covid virus, they develop the same antibodies to the spike.
The science behind the vaccine is straightforward. Like all vaccines, the ones for Covid teach the body to fight the disease by developing antibodies. Experts say they do not contain ingredients that could affect fertility and the components of the jab leave the body within days through the lymphatic system.
“We want to reassure women that there is no evidence to suggest that Covid-19 vaccines will affect fertility,” said Dr Edward Morris, President of the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. “There is no biologically plausible mechanism by which current vaccines would cause any impact on women’s fertility. Evidence has not been presented that women who have been vaccinated go on to have fertility problems.”
Meanwhile, pregnant women are being encouraged to get the vaccine.
“Neither pregnancy in the first trimester, nor pregnancy in the last trimester are reasons not to get vaccinated,” said France’s Health Minister Olivier Véran on 20^th July, adding that the vaccines protect both the mother and unborn child from serious illnesses related to the Covid virus.
“Pregnant women can therefore be vaccinated, regardless of the time of their pregnancy, with the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines,” said the French government.
 
 
Photo by Christian Bowen on Unsplash
 
 

The French government has announced that the public must show a valid health pass at bars, restaurants and on long-distance plane, train and bus travel from 9^th August.
Just four days after the controversial law was passed in the parliament, making a health pass mandatory for access to many venues around France, a date has been set for enforcement.
Government spokesperson Gabriel Attal announced on Wednesday afternoon that as of 9^th August, health passes will be asked for at restaurants and bars as well as for travel on long-distance bus, airplane and train trips. This decision is subject to one final hoop, approval by the Constitutional Council, which is due to respond by 5^th August.
“The extended health pass will come into effect with, in the beginning, a period of adaptation, of tolerance, of pedagogy, of roughly one week,” Attal said at the press conference.
The public has known this was coming since President Emmanuel Macron addressed the country on 12^thJuly, saying health passes will become mandatory “the beginning of August.”
The pass has been required in leisure and cultural venues such as theatres, cinemas, museums, monuments, public swimming pools, concert halls, festivals and leisure centres with more than 50 people since 21^st July.
Transportation Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari has provided some details about how the health pass will work for those travelling by train.
“For internal flights, and for long-distance trains, meaning TGVs, intercités and night trains, you will need to show a health pass,” Djebbari said, adding that controls will be carried out in stations, before and after travelling, but there will also be random checks on board the trains.
“We’re going to try to do it in the most fluid and operational way possible in order to have a good rate of checks, and at the same time avoid making passengers’ lives difficult,” Djebbari said. He added there would not be “systematic” checks, “in the same way that, during the curfew, there were not systematic checks on people who were going out.”
Passengers who test positive before travel will be reimbursed by SNCF, as will airline passengers by their respective airline companies. The current rule allows for cancellation up to 72 hours before travel, but this will be modified to allow for the new rule for the unvaccinated, stating a negative test must be presented 48 hours before the start of a trip.
 
 
 

One in five Covid hospital patients are now aged under 49, the Regional Health Agency for the PACA region has announced, noting a steep rise in younger intensive care patients.
The Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) region has seen a giant leap in coronavirus cases over the last weeks, primarily in the Var and the Alpes-Maritimes, spurring the Regional Health Agency (ARS) to warn that hospitals are quickly becoming overwhelmed as the demand for beds rises, especially in intensive care.
The sector of society who has seen the most dramatic jump in intensive care stays is the under-49s, who now account for one in five patients admitted.
“To date, one in five people who entered intensive care for Covid in July is between 20 and 49 years old,” says the Health Authority. “This increase is worrying given the summer context: strong tourist influx increasing the demand for care and reduction in nursing human resources due to leave.”
In just 10 days, the incidence rate has multiplied by six in the Alpes-Maritimes. Whilst figures stood below 25 cases per 100,000 per week at the start of July, today they sit close to a frightening 600. To put this is in other terms, the area has gone from detecting roughly 40 new cases a day to nearly 1,000.
With nine out of 10 cases now classified as the highly contagious Delta variant, the Prefecture has reinstated some precautions, such as mandatory mask-wearing outdoors.
The coastal areas have borne the brunt of the cases, not a huge surprise given they are where the highest concentration of tourists are in summer. Between Théoule-sur-Mer and Nice, only one town, Cagnes-sur-Mer, has an incidence rate under 500 and when stretching to the Monaco borders, only Beaulieu and Roquebrune-Cap-Martin are below 250.
 
 
Photo of Jim Thirion on Unsplash