• Today, 55% of nursing staff have received at least one dose of vaccine against the coronavirus, which is less than the national average.

  • Faced with this low rate, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran is considering making their vaccination compulsory.

  • It would be a first in France in the face of Covid-19, but the idea is not without raising some debate.

It is a sea snake, which has returned incessantly since the opening of the vaccination in France against the coronavirus.

Should it be made compulsory, especially for caregivers?

The heated debate finally concluded that it was better to do education and encouragement, rather than decree an obligation for caregivers, at the risk of rushing some and generating a counterproductive effect.

However, the reflection has just been relaunched by the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, this Thursday.

Asked about BFM TV, he announced that he was considering making vaccination compulsory for nursing home care workers from September.

20 Minutes

takes stock.

Why would this obligation target nursing home care providers specifically?

Two reasons can be put forward. First, their very low vaccination rate at the moment. In the words of the Minister of Health, barely “50% and a few” of nursing staff would be vaccinated. To be precise, 55% of caregivers in nursing homes would be at least first-time vaccinated, this time according to Public Health France. This is much less than the number of liberal caregivers for example, up to 85% and even much less than the average of the adult population: 58.8% of French adults have received at least a first dose of vaccine. "There are 60% of French adults who have already received an injection, there are less than 60% of caregivers who work in nursing homes, this is not justifiable," said the minister, who is counting on the been to improve this very low rate. "By the end of the summer, if it doesn't get better,we would ask ourselves the question of a vaccination obligation for these particular audiences, ”he threatened.

Second, the nursing home population is extremely fragile in the face of the coronavirus, age being one of the greatest risk factors and leading to other comorbidities.

Because 41% of coronavirus deaths in France were residents of nursing home before their vaccination began, while they represent only 611,000 people in total, or not even 1% of the country's population.

Why is it not enough to vaccinate residents?

According to data from Public Health France, 81% of residents would have received the two doses of vaccine and would therefore be fully vaccinated. But even with two doses, the vaccine is not 100% effective. According to a study published on Monday by the British health authorities, two doses of Pfizer would protect "only" 90% against hospitalizations against the Delta variant. And this percentage, rather high, can drop sharply without us knowing how to explain it yet.

For example, in mid-June, a Covid epidemic in the “Nos Tayons” rest home in Nivelles in Belgium, gave a much more deadly toll than expected. Among vaccinated residents, 44% were affected (52 of 117) and 12 people died. Partial vaccination coverage of the establishment's caregivers (only 60% of staff members vaccinated) had been singled out in particular.

“When you manage a population as fragile as nursing home residents, you can't leave any hole in the racket.

The fewer caregivers vaccinated, the more chance there is of transmitting the virus to fragile people, and the vaccine does not save all patients.

Everything must therefore be done to limit the entry of the virus into the nursing home and its transmission, ”depicts the doctor Jérôme Marty and president of the French Union of Free Medicine (UFML).

In fact, the vaccine decreases the chances of contracting the coronavirus and the chances of transmitting it.

More caregivers vaccinated in the Ehpad, so it is less likely to see the Covid-19 enter there.

Compulsory vaccination, is it a good idea?

"When after six months of opening to vaccination, there is only a little more than 50% of vaccinated, there is no more excuse, especially when one is caregiver", plague Jérôme Marty. Who wonders anyway: Why is this rate, quite or very high among other caregivers, so low in nursing homes? "We must seek the explanation, analyze this population, look for convincing methods," says the doctor.

The fact remains that after six months and such a mediocre rate, the question of the obligation does indeed arise, he admits.

But this is far from the miracle solution.

"Can we demand compulsory vaccination for only some of the caregivers, and on what legal basis?"

Above all, what means of retaliation do we have for those who refuse?

There are already understaffed nursing homes and not enough caregivers to replace them.

“The nursing homes, insoluble breach in France in the face of the coronavirus.

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  • Covid 19

  • Coronavirus

  • Anti-covid vaccine

  • Medicine

  • Ehpad

  • Vaccination

  • Health