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THE EXTRA DOSE WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PEOPLE ON DIALYSIS AND PEOPLE WHO HAVE HAD ORGAN TRANSPLANTS, AMONG OTHERS France has approved giving a third dose of a Covid-19 vaccine to certain
patients who are “severely immunocompromised”. This covers patients who have had organ transplants, recent bone marrow transplant patients, patients on dialysis, and patients with autoimmune
diseases undergoing strong immunosuppressive treatment such as anti-CD20 or antimetabolites. The decision was announced by the Direction générale de la Santé (DGS), an arm of the French
health ministry, on April 11. The patients who are eligible for the third dose will receive either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine. They should receive the third dose four weeks after
the second, or as soon as possible if it has already been more than four weeks since their second dose. The DGS stated that this schedule could be extended at a later date to include
non-dialysis chronic kidney disease patients, cancer patients and autoimmune disease patients on other immunosuppressive treatments. It also said that family members, those living under the
same roof and carers of people suffering from severe immunocompromisation should become eligible for a Covid-19 vaccination “in the near future”, if they are not already due to their age
and/or health. READ MORE: Do I still need a vaccination after I have had Covid-19? How will suspension of Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine impact France? Pfizer vaccine production to
start in France this week