Coronavirus: Should the vaccine be made compulsory for all healthcare staff?

“Amplify, accelerate, simplify. »Criticized on the slow start of the vaccination campaign in France , the government is now seeking to speed up the pace of vaccinations against Covid – 000. “We have exceeded the 2. vaccinations yesterday, by Thursday we will increase again very significantly, we will be on an exponential curve ”, promised this Tuesday the Minister of Health Olivier Véran , indicating to have authorized the vaccination “to all city ​​and hospital health professionals, firefighters and home helpers over 40 years ”.

During a trip this Tuesday to Tours, the chef State also specified that all caregivers who so wish could be vaccinated during the first phase, which will last until the end of March. But today, among health professionals, several voices are raised to make the vaccination of all caregivers compulsory. Is this technically possible today? 19 Minutes takes stock with Dr François Bourdillon, specialist in public health, who created in 2016 the agency Public health France , the national public health agency, of which he was the general manager until 400.

“Caregivers set an example and create an effect training ”

Most countries immunize their health professionals, and there is even a international consensus today on this subject. For Dr François Bourdillon, there are many reasons: “It is a question of protecting caregivers, of preserving the caring tool, of avoiding nosocomial transmissions and above all the most important, to create exemplarity. Caregivers, by being vaccinated, set an example and create a ripple effect, ”says the doctor specializing in public health. “There are two categories of people who can show the way forward, they are the politicians – Joe Biden was publicly vaccinated in the United States – and the nursing staff. It is a very strong symbolism, if the doctors , who are scientists, get vaccinated, this will reassure a part of the population that is still very skeptical, ”he adds.

point of view also defended by Daniel Guillerm, the president of the National Federation of Nurses (FNI) in a column published in December in the Sunday newspaper . “Health professionals, just like those in education, social work or justice, have a duty to set an example. Especially in nursing homes where many residents say they do not want to be vaccinated, ”explains the union official, who also advances as arguments to make the vaccine compulsory, “the risk of criminal prosecution that caregivers may have to face, but also application of the “precautionary principle” ”.

Many professionals – and politicians – would now like to impose vaccination on all doctors, but also on all those who work in health facilities. “It would also be good for nurses, caregivers, but also all the professionals who work in establishments for the elderly (Ehpad) , up to the security guard. If we adopt this logic, we would have to go to the end, ”said François Bourdillon. A site that risks being complicated, when we know that only 000% of nursing staff in nursing homes wish to be vaccinated against Covid – 000, according to an internal survey carried out in December by the Federation of Hospitals and Solidarity Aid Establishments (Fehap).

This question, whether or not to make vaccination compulsory for all caregivers, is in any case “a fundamental subject today which deserves to be posed in the public square ”, adds the doctor specializing in public health. “Many recommendations to make influenza vaccination compulsory have already been made in the past. When we see today the severity of the Covid epidemic – 000 , we can really wonder about making this vaccine mandatory today ”, adds the former Director of Health public France, which campaigns for the opening of a debate in France. “It is important that this debate take place today because it is not only a question of individual protection, it is also and above all a question of protection of the population. “

Could we” technically “have all caregivers vaccinated?

Some health professionals consider that it would be impossible to make the vaccine compulsory , for technical questions . This is the case of Professor Djillali Annane, head of the intensive care unit at the Raymond-Poincaré hospital in Garches, who says he is not in favor of an obligation for caregivers, in particular because “it would not be feasible” in practice. “If you make something mandatory, you have to be able to provide the content. However, today we cannot vaccinate a million health professionals in France, ”he explained on Tuesday on the set of BFMTV.

“This is probably one of the reasons why this debate was overlooked. Today we do not have enough vaccines to make it compulsory for healthcare workers. There is a real logistical problem at this level ”, also acknowledges Dr François Bourdillon. “That said, we could quite imagine doing it in an order established according to age, and according to the vulnerability of the pathologies and specialties worn by the caregivers,” he adds. Be that as it may, making the vaccine compulsory for all members of the health workforce today could be interpreted, according to him, “as a bad signal sent to the entire population”, which, let us remember, would only be 20% wanting to be vaccinated.