This winter, bronchiolitis, covid and flu had a lesser impact than in 2022-2023

The epidemics of covid, flu and bronchiolitis have weighed less on health systems than the previous year, health authorities announced on Tuesday, welcoming in particular "positive signals" on the effectiveness of preventive treatment against bronchiolitis, the Beyfortus. The winter season was more “serene”, declared the Director General of Health Grégory Emery during an initial assessment with officials from Public Health France and health insurance in particular.

The latter considers that “anticipatory and management measures made it possible to support these episodes in the best way”, even if this did not prevent “health professionals in the field from experiencing on-call or weekend “difficult ends”, sometimes. After a “terrible” 2022-2023 season, the bronchiolitis epidemic was however “different”, affecting “many fewer babies under 3 months”, with “a saturation of emergencies and pediatrics observed occasionally but much less widespread and prolonged than last year.

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One of the issues is whether the vast campaign to immunize babies with the preventive treatment Beyfortus (developed and marketed by the Sanofi and AstraZeneca laboratories) is effective in reducing hospitalizations. Victim of its success, this monoclonal antibody was reserved for maternity hospitals while waiting for new stocks. Some 250,000 infants have received this treatment in France, one of four countries, such as the United States and Spain, to have used it so far. Professor Christelle Gras-Le Guen, who is supporting the government campaign on this anti-bronchiolitis treatment, welcomed “extraordinary support, of around 85% acceptance from families” and “in a country that we know a little vaccine skeptic.

“If it is too early to precisely measure the impact of Beyfortus on the epidemic and hospitalizations”, underlined Grégory Emery, several preliminary results seem “positive” and different evaluations are underway, specified Laëtitia Huart (Public Health France ) and Christelle Gras-Le Guen. The High Health Authority will provide an evaluation in June on the medical benefit provided by Beyfortus, said the health director.

The authorities are already in discussions with Sanofi on ordering doses for fall-winter 2024-2025. “The adherence rate of 80%-85% (of parents of newborns) will serve as a guide to secure the number of doses for the French market,” according to the Director General of Health. This would correspond to some 600,000 doses. Furthermore, the HAS will decide this year on a vaccine intended to protect future infants via their pregnant mothers and seniors, but also on a vaccine targeting adults only.