Illustration of an anti-Covid-19 vaccine.
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ALLILI MOURAD
From the beginning of January, the anti-Covid vaccination campaign will start in France.
But according to several recent polls, only 53% of French people intend to participate.
To fight against mistrust of vaccines, the government will launch a citizen consultation on the planned campaign.
It is now only a matter of days.
At the beginning of January at the latest, the national vaccination campaign against Covid-19 will be launched in France.
According to a strategy already drawn up by the executive and unveiled not long ago, the first injections will be administered as a priority to nursing home residents.
Then will come the turn of people over 75 (then over 65), those with risky pathologies and health and medico-social professionals.
Finally, when stocks allow, it will be open to the entire population.
The population still has to want to be vaccinated, which is far from being won.
To fight against this mistrust, Emmanuel Macron announced on November 24 the establishment of a "collective of citizens [...] to involve the population more broadly" in the vaccination strategy.
But what will it be used for?
"Restore confidence"
The French and vaccines, it's a thwarted story.
And the coronavirus crisis, during which several vaccine candidates were created in a few months, further feeds this mistrust.
Thus, according to figures published on December 5 by Public Health France, only 53% of French people intend to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
However, to reduce the epidemic to silence, the greatest number must be vaccinated to achieve the famous collective immunity.
The executive therefore launched an operation "transparency" and appointed a "Mr. vaccine", Alain Fischer, at the head of a "orientation council of the vaccine strategy against Covid-19, responsible for supporting the government in the choice that he will be led to make in the matter ”, announced the Prime Minister, Jean Castex.
The primary mission of this Mr. vaccine: restore confidence.
"For this vaccination to be effective, trust must be established, and this trust cannot be a vertical injunction from state authorities," warned Professor Fischer on his appointment.
He said he wanted to work with "health professionals, who must themselves be convinced by transparent and complete communication on risk benefit analysis […], civil society, (in particular) associations of patients with chronic diseases. ", And researchers" specialists in vaccine reluctance [reluctance to be vaccinated] ".
To achieve this, Professor Fischer will oversee a citizen consultation, for which around thirty citizens should be drawn.
Not a first
"We have seen the emergence of this concept of citizen consultation in the Scandinavian countries, on controversial subjects such as GMOs," recalls Jocelyn Raude, teacher-researcher in social psychology of health and infectious diseases at the School of Advanced Studies in Public Health (EHESP).
It happened more recently in France, this year with the Citizen's Climate Convention, but already in 2016 on vaccination ”.
It will therefore not be a first for Monsieur vaccine.
Four years ago, Marisol Touraine, then Minister of Health, had already called on him to chair the steering committee of a major citizen consultation on vaccination, intended to respond to the growing "mistrust" of a part of the population.
“So far, it has not worked too badly in France, notes Jocelyn Raude.
The 2016 initiative seems to have been rather successful, since surveys have shown in the following years a decrease in vaccine hesitation.
Since 2010 it was among the highest - if not the highest - in the Western world.
After a peak around 40% in 2010, and it has dropped to around 20% following this consultation ”.
In addition, the proposals of Professor Fisher's report had led the government to make compulsory eight additional vaccines in young children, until then only recommended, in addition to three which were already recommended.
Fighting against the crisis of representative democracy
"This citizen consultation is a gimmick," said Dr Jérôme Marty, president of the French Union for Free Medicine (UFML).
When is the government going to stop infantilizing people?
If they do not trust him, it is because of his catastrophic handling of the crisis.
We have a government that prides itself on being the start-up nation, but where are the innovative proposals for living safely with the virus while resuming social and economic life?
Where are the saliva tests?
Tests on air purifiers?
Furthermore, is there not an elected Parliament responsible for debating these questions?
"
It is planned: the vaccine strategy must be presented to Parliament on December 16 and 17.
But “this French mistrust is part of the broader crisis of representative democracy, and is expressed well beyond public health issues,” underlines Jocelyn Raude.
We have seen it with the "yellow vests": there is a greater demand for the association of populations in government decisions.
The legitimacy of the executive's action is increasingly called into question, and this crisis has intensified since the start of the epidemic.
Mistrust also affects the pharmaceutical industry, which today embodies, in the collective imagination, a globalized and carnivorous capitalism ”.
Faced with Covid-19, the government's strategy was first to "rely on high-level scientists, with the Council chaired by Professor Delfraissy, but that was not enough, says the health sociologist .
Especially since scientists in turn have unscrewed the confidence levels.
The executive no longer had much choice: we had probably reached a breaking point in the confidence placed in the government, especially after the mask affair.
Resorting to citizen consultation, it might have been necessary to do it earlier, from the start of the epidemic, in order to appear less centralized and authoritarian ”.
"The true citizen consultation takes place every day in our offices"
In terms of convincing as many people as possible to be vaccinated, “we are at the very beginning of a campaign that has not yet started, faced with a disease that was unknown barely a year ago and vaccines that we don't know yet, insists Dr Marty.
It is normal for the population to ask questions, it is up to the executive, doctors and scientists to communicate as new elements arise ”.
Because "confidence goes through clear and readable information on the efficacy and safety of vaccines" abounds Dr Luc Duquesnel, general practitioner and president of the general practitioners - Confederation of French medical unions (CSMF), which relies on education .
And Dr Marty recalled that "if, according to a survey by Cevipof, the confidence rate of the French in political leaders is only 9%, that of general practitioners climbs to 88% and even to 94% among patients. having chronic conditions ”.
Hence the importance of associating city medicine and making it a privileged relay.
“It's part of our mission: our patients ask us every day about these vaccines, to find out what we think about them, if we recommend them, if we are going to be vaccinated.
Citizen consultation takes place every day in our offices!
"
Missions to be determined
The one wanted by the executive, it should be launched soon, according to terms not yet unveiled.
Who will make up this collective and how will it work?
What information will it be shared and what will be its room for maneuver on a strategy that has already been developed?
"For the time being, we do not know the mission of this citizen council, the subjects it will deal with or its position in the decision-making chain", recognizes Jocelyn Raude.
"It will not be like the Citizen's Convention for the climate, but there is the same idea of associating the French", indicated the presidency a few days ago.
The exercise will all the same be very different since here, the citizens drawn by lot will not start from a blank page.
“This strategy is deployed a little late, defensively,” comments Jocelyn Raude.
However, for several months, the Scientific Council has been blowing the idea of a citizens' council.
“Better late than never, philosopher the sociologist of health.
What is certain is that based on previous experiences, it cannot hurt confidence.
But will it be a magic wand to this long crisis of mistrust of vaccines and the executive?
Not sure ".
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