Winter 2025-2026 mortality figures

Between October 2025 and April 2026, Santé publique France recorded 1,906 deaths with mention of Covid-19, out of a total of about 213,000 deaths from all causes. This represents 0.9% of the overall mortality for the season, a figure that may seem modest at first glance.

Severe cases decline

The season also recorded 194 severe cases admitted to intensive care, compared to 326 during the previous winter, a notable decrease. On the side of medical and social institutions, which house a significant portion of the most vulnerable elderly, 954 episodes of group Covid-19 cases were reported.

Age not the sole factor

It would be tempting to stop there and conclude that advanced age is sufficient to explain these 96% of deaths among those over 65 years old. After all, aging is often accompanied by a less reactive immune system and associated pathologies that weaken the body. But this explanation, if not false, remains incomplete.

Variants not more dangerous

Another hypothesis often raised when a peak in deaths occurs: the circulation of a more aggressive variant than previous ones. However, the epidemiological data from the 2025-2026 season do not support this. The decrease in the number of severe cases in intensive care, from 326 to 194, suggests rather a comparable evolution, or even less severe, in viral circulation.

Vaccination coverage drops

This is where the figures become truly telling. The vaccination coverage against Covid-19 among those 65 and older reached only 16.8% during the 2025-2026 campaign, a decline of about five points compared to the previous year, a figure that Santé publique France even considers likely underestimated.

Flu vaccine coverage rises

For comparison, this coverage was still at 30.2% at the end of the 2023-2024 campaign. In the space of two seasons, the protective vaccination of the most at-risk individuals has therefore clearly eroded. Interesting fact, the flu vaccination has, on the other hand, progressed, reaching 56.7% among those over 65 years old, an increase of three points, the first since the pandemic.

Vaccination status of deceased

By cross-referencing the profiles of the deceased with vaccination coverage data, a clear trend emerges: the majority of deaths concern elderly people who are insufficiently protected, rather than elderly people with good vaccination status who would have nevertheless succumbed.

Booster dose urged

The analysis of the 1,906 deaths from the winter 2025-2026 demonstrates that the vaccination deficit is indeed the main factor of mortality linked to Covid among those over 65 years old, which clinically imposes the booster dose this autumn 2026. Indeed, recent news confirms that the virus has not disappeared from the radar.

Health ministry response

Emergency visits for suspected Covid-19 among adults increased by 22% between September 21 and 27, 2026, or 114 additional visits in a single week. Despite this signal, the Ministry of Health chose at the beginning of October not to advance the vaccination campaign, estimating that the overall indicators did not justify such anticipation.

Vaccination campaign begins

The joint campaign against the flu and Covid-19 nevertheless began on October 13 in metropolitan France, in the Antilles, and in Guyana, in accordance with official recommendations. For people over 65 years old, and more broadly for their environment, this vaccination window represents a concrete opportunity to correct course after two seasons of declining coverage.

Preventive gesture emphasized

At bottom, these figures tell a fairly simple story behind their apparent statistical complexity: vaccination protection remains, for the most fragile organisms, a much more determining barrier than the age inscribed on the identity card. Therefore, making an appointment for this booster dose does not simply involve an administrative reflex, but a preventive gesture that can, very concretely, shift the statistics to the right side.