• In the French overseas departments and territories, less than 20% of the population has a complete vaccination schedule.

    A reluctance to be vaccinated which can be explained by various factors, some of which are specific to overseas territories.

  • The chlordecone health scandal, as well as information circulating on networks in the West Indies, fueled mistrust of political and health authorities.

  • The colonial past and the desire in the West Indies to assert local skills may also lead to the refusal for some of this vaccine.

Everywhere in France, the vaccine against the coronavirus and the extension of the health pass is far from unanimous.

Last Saturday, more than 200,000 people took to the streets to demonstrate against the vaccination.

But in the territories of the DOM-TOM the rejection seems much more marked.

In Guadeloupe, according to the latest figures from the Regional Health Agency (ARS), only 27.7% of adults have received at least one dose of vaccine against 63.48% throughout France.

In Martinique according to the ARS, 16.14% of the population over 12 years old has a complete vaccination schedule, while more than half of the French population has received two doses of the vaccine.

A major difference linked to various factors specific to these overseas territories.

Measures unsuited to the situation in the West Indies?

We can see in the West Indies as everywhere in France, a certain mistrust of a part of the population towards the government due to the management of the health crisis. Maureen Galou, general practitioner at the CHU de Guadeloupe and working at the Souffle du Nord vaccination center in Port-Louis, had the opportunity to discuss with many patients reluctant to vaccination. "Many evoke the government's communication that they accuse of saying everything and its opposite for several months and which makes them suspicious," she reports.

Added to this is the fact that "some also felt that the West Indies were being imposed measures which do not necessarily correspond to the situation and local particularities", reports Stéphanie Mulot, professor of sociology specializing in the West Indies (University of Toulouse, CERTOP and Caribbean Social Sciences Laboratory).

"If the government says it is safe, it is because it is not"

"And when there is mistrust vis-à-vis the government, at the same time people adhere to erroneous beliefs about vaccines", observes Romy Sauvayre, HDR lecturer in sociology at Clermont Auvergne University, CNRS researcher and author from the book

Believe in the Incredible

. “Studies over the past 20 years around the world of people refusing or hesitating to get vaccinated show that there is decision-maker rejection and a mechanism to say 'if the government says it's safe, is that it is not "", analyzes the expert. Still according to studies, these people will then overestimate the side effects of vaccines, which will lead them to refuse it, without integrating the conspiratorial sphere.

In this regard, Doctor Maureen Galou noted that some caregivers at the CHU de Guadeloupe who hesitated to be vaccinated were hampered by the fact that it became compulsory: "The precipitation of the government made them think that there was something unclear and bizarre thing ”.

"A West Indian history of opposition to colonial domination"

But mistrust of the political class is also linked to antecedents specific to the Antilles and in particular the chlordecone crisis. This very toxic pesticide, used for more than twenty years in banana plantations in Guadeloupe and Martinique, has contaminated animals, the environment, but also populations. In November 2019, a parliamentary commission of inquiry held the French state responsible for the chlordecone scandal. "During the various demonstrations in the West Indies in recent months and years to demand justice from the State, there has been police violence which has damaged confidence in the authorities in general", underlines Stéphanie Mulot.

Romy Sauvayre also observes that in the typical profile of people refusing vaccination, there is a strong support for freedom: “They privilege their individual freedom above all else and consider that they have the choice to accept or not a vaccine.

As they are attached to their freedom, any constraint seems unacceptable to them.

In the West Indies, this attachment is also difficult to dissociate from the history of the territories.

For Stéphanie Mulot, “there is the idea that official speeches are speeches of fear in order to better control people and limit their individual freedoms.

This idea comes up against the posture of resistance which is part of a West Indian history of opposition to colonial domination.

"

Social networks, a source of anxiety-provoking information

Mistrust is not only exercised towards the government, but also at the level of health authorities. This is notably driven by the controversy surrounding Professor Raoult. “This left deep traces in Guadeloupe and Martinique. This showed some people that it was necessary to exercise a critical sense with regard, for example, to the ideology of all vaccines, ”reports Stéphanie Mulot.

And to sharpen their critical thinking vis-à-vis health and political authorities, these people do not go through the media.

"Studies show that they will drink information on social networks where a lot of diverse and varied beliefs are spreading very anxiety-provoking vis-à-vis vaccines", notes Romy Sauvayre.

Thus, several information affirming that people would have died in Guadeloupe and Martinique some time after being vaccinated, circulated recently on the networks.

A desire to upgrade local skills

This information feeds the idea that the vaccine would be ineffective, even toxic and that it is useless especially when one is not a person at risk. From there arises the feeling of invulnerability. “At the start of the epidemic there was the impression that the danger came from elsewhere and that what was happening in mainland France was not happening in the West Indies, recalls Stéphanie Mulot. People did not recognize themselves in the risk profiles whereas paradoxically there is a prevalence of people suffering from obesity, arterial hypertension, respiratory failure, as well as the elderly in the West Indies. On the contrary, it should have increased awareness of the risk. "

This climate of mistrust has finally settled in a context of upgrading the local skills of Guadeloupe and Martinique. “At the cultural, trade union and political level, there is a will and pride of the Antilles to produce knowledge, modes of governance for themselves and by themselves, notes the professor of sociology specializing in the Antilles. We do not want to be imposed on decisions from Paris and there is this idea that we must look at local resources what we can do to protect ourselves from the virus. "

For example, to increase their natural immunity, some have recourse to the local pharmacopoeia, an encyclopedic work mainly listing plants for therapeutic use, reports Stéphanie Mulot.

“These methods are supported by groups of doctors in Guadeloupe and Martinique who have come up against the official speeches of doctors, hospitals and the ARS by advocating alternative methods to avoid getting vaccinated.

Dr. Joseph thus presented the peak grass that he produced as a plant capable of slowing down the replication of the virus.

Despite this, Doctor Maureen Galou has observed a change in behavior and an increase in the number of appointments to be vaccinated in recent weeks.

“While we had cancellations in July, August is now full”.

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  • Vaccine

  • Covid 19

  • Overseas

  • Guadeloupe

  • Anti-covid vaccine

  • West Indies

  • Martinique

  • Coronavirus

  • Health