The measure has come into effect since the beginning of this new year: the number of compulsory vaccinations for all babies born from 1 January 2018 officially increases from three to eleven. A vaccination obligation that is not retroactive, and therefore does not concern children born before that date.

A decision taken by the government to "stop some infectious diseases like measles" *, but which has been debated for several months.

In order to unravel the true and false, we asked several experts to answer the most frequently asked questions of the public. Response elements.

Eleven vaccines, is not that too much for a newborn?

"This is absolutely no problem," says Professor Alain Fischer, professor of pediatric immunology and holder of the chair of experimental medicine at the Collège de France.

The immune system of a newborn is operational. These vaccinations will neither deplete nor saturate it, contrary to what some critics claim. They represent little to the massive stimulation of the immune system at birth following colonization of the baby's skin, mouth and intestine by the mother's vaginal microbes.

They must be vaccinated very quickly because the maternal antibodies remain valiant for only a few weeks. And breastfeeding does not provide enough protection against serious infections like measles or meningitis. "

But who says eleven vaccines does not say eleven simultaneous injections: as some vaccines and recalls are given at the same time, the new immunization schedule includes ten injections spread until the age of two.

Why so many compulsory vaccines in France, and not in other European states?

"Mistrust of vaccines is more important in our country than in Great Britain or Sweden, who do not need to resort to the obligation since their immunization coverage rate is already around 95%, compared to 70 to 80%. % in France, "says Professor Fischer.

In addition, "the French do not have a good scientific culture, which allows the speeches of anti-vaccines to spread more," says statistician Alain-Jacques Valleron, a member of the Academy of Sciences. Our health system is also responsible for this failure.

"This is almost exclusively focused on the cure of diseases and not on their prevention, hence a higher skepticism vis-à-vis vaccines," adds the economist Frédéric Bizard, expert to the Senate on protection issues social.

What is the point of imposing protection against measles when this disease is benign?

"The measles could have been eliminated from the French territory in 2010, but we did not succeed because the vaccination coverage for the second dose remained below 80% in children 2 years, says the epidemiologist Daniel Levy-Bruhl , a specialist in vaccination at the Public Health Agency France.So, there was a large resurgence of the disease between 2008 and 2012, with several tens of thousands of cases reported, more than 30 encephalitis and more than ten recorded deaths ".

Measles should therefore be taken seriously.

Why mandatory vaccination against meningitis, more and more rare?

"Haemophilus influenzae meningitis has almost disappeared in France thanks to vaccination, but this is not the case with meningococcal meningitis C," says Professor Fischer.

"As the vaccination rate remains very insufficient, it was not possible to induce a collective immunity to make it disappear, as in other European countries, says Daniel Levy-Bruhl.The result: more than 100 cases of meningitis caused by this bacterium are reported per year in France, with a mortality of 10 to 20% and severe sequelae in 20% of cases.The vast majority could have been avoided with a mandatory vaccination.

Can we get all the legal vaccines without getting pork gelatin?

"Some anti-vaccines use pork gelatin in vaccines to increase their hearing, but only those against measles can contain hydrolyzed gelatine of porcine origin," notes Daniel Levy-Bruhl, "and there is an alternative without pork. ** for the people that it would interfere for religious questions ".

Are vaccines incriminated in sudden infant death?

"Vaccination has been associated several times with sudden infant death, in the name of the fight against vaccines, but there is no causal link between these two events," says Alain-Jacques Valleron. is just two facts that occur at about the same time in life.Various statistical studies have shown that, on the contrary, vaccines protect.The risk of sudden death is reduced by about half in vaccinated babies, compared to unvaccinated babies ".

* https: //solidarites-sante.gouv.fr/prevention-en-sante/preserver-sa-sante/vaccination/vaccins-obligatoires/article/11-vaccins-obligatoires-en-2018-le-projet-de-loi
** the Priorix