This was the day after the lifting of the main restrictions linked to Covid-19. On March 15, Emmanuel Macron, traveling to La Pommeraye, in Maine-et-Loire, is questioned by a non-vaccinated nurse. “Please let us get back to our work,” begs the young woman, in tears. “The government, in the short term, is not going to remove the vaccination obligation”, then replies the president. However, the vaccination obligation for caregivers raises questions when the vaccination pass and the mask are no longer compulsory in most places. And the subject was invited in the presidential campaign.
England waives compulsory vaccination of caregivers
Four of the candidates for the Elysée indeed want to reintegrate unvaccinated caregivers: Marine Le Pen, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan (supported by Florian Philippot), Eric Zemmour and Jean-Luc Mélenchon spoke in favor of the end of this vaccination obligation. .
Some countries have gone back on this constraint. Especially England, which announced on March 1 that it was giving up imposing the vaccine against Covid-19 to all public caregivers. The British government had however announced in November that the anti-Covid vaccination would become compulsory in April for caregivers.
When the initial decision was made, “the Delta variant was dominant,” British Health Minister Sajid Javid said in a statement. “It has since been replaced by Omicron, which is less severe, with the percentage of people needing emergency care or hospital admission halved compared to the Delta variant,” it said. -he adds. Care home workers across the UK, who had previously been asked to be fully vaccinated, have not been required to do so since March 15, the statement said.
Véran confirms that the vaccination obligation is maintained
This is not the choice of the French government. On March 3, the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, clarified that the health pass remained required in health establishments… and the vaccination obligation for topical caregivers.
“In order to protect healthcare establishments and their patients while the virus continues to circulate, the vaccination obligation for professionals remains in force under the same conditions as on March 13: the scope of the professionals and structures concerned remains unchanged and the terms of compliance with the vaccination obligation have been the same since February 15, 2022, explains to 20 minutes the Directorate General for Health Services (DGOS). It thus applies to all the professionals (in post or entering post) concerned and does not include any additional derogation to the cases already provided for within the framework of the vaccination obligation. » Understand: except those who have a contraindication for this vaccination. Last Saturday on France 2the Minister of Health, asked about the possibility of reintegrating unvaccinated caregivers, confirmed: “No, the epidemic is not over, the virus continues to circulate”.
77% of employees in healthcare establishments received the booster dose
Where exactly are we? Since January 30, all caregivers must justify their third dose to continue to exercise. And since February 15, these healthcare professionals or hospital workers must have had this injection… or have a positive test for Covid-19 within four months of their last injection.
According to the latest bulletin from Public Health France, the vaccination coverage of the booster dose was 77.9% for healthcare professionals working in nursing homes or long-term care units (USLD), 86.4% for liberals and 77% for employees. in health facilities. A last low figure, but these data do not provide information on the number of infected caregivers. When asked, the ministry could not tell us the number of caregivers suspended since February.
“I spoke with many colleagues who, like me, notice that for the 3rd dose, there were very few suspensions”, reveals François *, HRD in a large hospital. In his university hospital, out of 4,000 agents, there was only one suspension in February. “A lot of refractory caregivers had Omicron during the last wave, so they fit into the boxes”. Still, some caregivers, who refuse to take a new dose and were infected in early January, for example, may no longer be able to exercise in early May.
“This vaccination obligation makes few caregivers actually removed from the beds”
The subject continues to divide the medical community. If in some cities, caregivers demonstrate to be able to find their coats without going through the injection, others believe that this reintegration would not make sense. Would reintegrating these professionals give a breath of fresh air to the hospital, which has been in great difficulty for years, as some presidential candidates claim? According to the DGOS, at the beginning of November, “only 0.6% of the professionals concerned by the vaccination obligation were subject to a suspension in the establishments that responded to the survey. »
An extremely limited impact, therefore. This is confirmed by the HRD who we contacted, because many people finally agreed to be vaccinated. “In October, in all, we had eight suspensions, including only four caregivers. This vaccination obligation generates few caregivers actually removed from the beds. And therefore reintegrating all the suspended caregivers would not change much for the hospital. Moreover, this is not what those in office want. They prefer to work alone than in bad company. Someone who does not want to make compulsory vaccinations is a danger. I met a nurse who said “Covid-19 does not exist”. What will be his care of the patient if he thinks that? The Covid-19, we experienced it on the front line, we lost two colleagues. And since caregivers are vaccinated, the number of clusters has clearly decreased in my hospital. »
The HRD is also worried about a possible inconsistency: “If there is a new outbreak of the epidemic, will we reinstate the vaccination obligation after having removed it? It would be destabilizing. Suspending and reintegrating caregivers is not my job…” So, should vaccination against Covid-19 be made compulsory for all health professionals, as are already those against diphtheria, tetanus, poliomyelitis? and hepatitis B? The ministry did not respond to our questions. “In three or four years, if the Covid-19 is behind us, we could remove the vaccination obligation”, suggests the HRD. But not before.
*Name has been changed.