While anti-covid vaccines should soon arrive in nursing homes, relatives of residents are divided between confidence and fears about the vaccine.
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Frderic Scheiber / SIPA
The European Medicines Agency authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Monday.
From the next few days, the anti-Covid vaccine will be available in France and will be inoculated as a priority to nursing home residents.
For those close to them, the news is greeted sometimes with joy, sometimes with concern.
That's it !
The decision was expected: the European Medicines Agency on Monday gave the green light for the distribution of the Pfizer - BioNTech vaccine.
It is now only a matter of days before the first doses of vaccine are delivered to the continent, and inoculated according to the vaccination plan established by each member state.
In France, it is expected that residents of nursing homes will be the very first to benefit from the vaccine against Covid-19.
The government has thus chosen to prioritize the most vulnerable elderly people, while many nursing homes in France have been hard hit by the coronavirus epidemic.
What to satisfy the first concerned and their relatives?
Well, opinions differ.
Between the joy of seeing their vulnerable loved ones finally protected against Covid-19 for some and the fear of seeing the elderly wipe the plasters of a brand new vaccine for others, the readers of 20 Minutes with a loved one in nursing home are shared.
"I don't want my mom in nursing home to be vaccinated, and she doesn't want it either"
If the first scientific publications validating the effectiveness of vaccines are now available, part of the general public considers themselves too little informed to trust this newcomer.
“For the moment, we know absolutely nothing, worries Juliette, whose mother lives in nursing homes and who fears the side effects on the most vulnerable.
These RNA vaccines have never been used on humans before, so it might be better to start vaccinating healthy people, rather than starting with our parents who are the most fragile.
They are not laboratory rats!
".
While the arrival of vaccines in nursing homes is imminent, Juliette discussed with her mother the opportunity to be vaccinated in her nursing home and the mother shares her daughter's fears.
"She wants to wait until the vaccine has proven itself, both in terms of its effectiveness and its safety, so for the moment it's no".
An opinion shared by Muriel: "Me too, I have fears about this vaccine, I do not want my mother in nursing home to be vaccinated and she does not want it either".
“We are very afraid of the consequences, Alain says.
Vaccinating the elderly is irresponsible, because their fragility makes them liable to die as guinea pigs ”.
Adeline, whose grandmother lives in nursing homes, “is very apprehensive about the arrival of this upcoming vaccination on which we do not have enough perspective”.
With her relatives, Adeline "began to talk to our grandmother about the vaccination against Covid 19. For the moment she has not given us an answer, but knowing that she has her intellectual faculties, her choice will be ours , but that worries me a lot ”.
A fear shared by many French people, as demonstrated by our second Barometer on the French and the coronavirus, since 57% of those questioned think they will not be vaccinated, citing the lack of perspective on the effectiveness of the vaccine (46 %) and fear of side effects (31%).
"A great hope to find a normal life"
But for many, vaccination is above all the way to get back to life as quickly as possible.
A life where you can see your loved ones without restriction and without the risk of getting sick.
"The vaccine is a great hope to find a normal life," said Marie-Pierre, who thinks of her parents of 79 and 80 years.
"They said to me 'what do you want to happen to us at our age? If we can go back to normal life, see our grandchildren and our friends without fear. Otherwise what do you want that? do we expect life? ".
And they're not the only ones to think so.
While decorating the nursing home, an 84-year-old resident with whom I was talking told me "Soon free!"
I think we have to trust these vaccines, we are starting to take a step back on it thanks to scientific studies which define the subjects who could not receive it for health reasons, the risks are avoided as much as possible ”.
So, to free themselves from the fear of the coronavirus, many choose to trust the vaccine.
“When I asked my mom who lives in nursing homes if she was okay with getting vaccinated, she told me that she was ready to do anything to improve the situation, even being a guinea pig,” says Claire.
I'm a little more worried about this new type of vaccine that has never been used before.
But I will not oppose his opinion ”.
Marc, he refuses to be won over by worry.
“I have a sister in nursing home and I am happy that she can come to my house for Christmas.
The vaccine is the only way out of this crisis and to avoid additional deaths.
I hope that everyone will show responsibility by not listening to the speeches of the antivax ”.
Vaccination of residents already infected in question
But for others, deciding on the interest of the anti-Covid vaccine turns into a puzzle.
Like Louis.
“My 98-year-old mother tested positive but without any symptoms she is considered cured.
But should she be vaccinated, since theoretically she has developed antibodies?
He wonders.
A question that Annie also asks: "I am not sure whether or not my mother should be vaccinated, she is 100 years old and has already had the Covid, without developing any symptoms".
For the time being, "the duration of the long-term immunity conferred by Covid-19 is not known", indicates the High Authority for Health (HAS), stressing however that "although the actual frequency of cases of reinfection is difficult to know, the number of published cases of reinfection duly documented remains low (around ten) to date ”.
So, should nursing home residents who are already infected be vaccinated?
"There is no data which currently makes it possible to know whether there is any benefit in vaccinating people who have already been infected with Covid and if so, when and how", recognizes the HAS.
But "the data available with an average follow-up of 3 months, allow, at this stage, to consider that there is no particular serious adverse effect in this population", she assured in her notice published on December 17 on the vaccine strategy presented by the government.
The HAS therefore considers at this stage that there is "no need to systematically vaccinate people who have already developed a symptomatic form of Covid-19.
However, in accordance with the preliminary recommendations of November 30, these people must be able to be vaccinated if they wish, following a decision shared with the doctor.
In this case, it then seems preferable to respect a minimum period of 3 months from the onset of symptoms ”.
"The challenge for the success of vaccination is understanding the main stakeholders"
The HAS is therefore reassuring on the vaccination of nursing home residents, but some relatives of residents feel too little informed at the moment to decide.
"I feel cowardly because Ehpad asked me for permission to vaccinate my mother, but I cannot make the decision," says Lydie, pointing to "the lack of perspective on vaccines.
If I refuse the vaccination and she dies from Covid-19, I would be remiss for the rest of my life.
And if I accept and it has side effects, I would be remiss too ”.
To support residents and their families in their reflection on the interest of being vaccinated, Yann Reboulleau insists on the need to "reassure and demonstrate pedagogy".
And the leader of the Ehpad Philogeris group is even ready to lead by example.
“I publicly declared that I volunteered to be vaccinated before my residents,” he explains to
20 Minutes
.
When we question them, and I talk to them regularly in our establishments, they are rather in favor of vaccination.
But they ask to be fully informed about the vaccine that will be offered to them.
What is at stake in the success of this vaccination operation is not the forms that will be signed, it is the understanding of the main stakeholders ”.
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