Covid-19: 500 doctors from the AP-HM call on the French to be vaccinated

Clément Perruche 3:40 p.m., January 3, 2022

INTERVIEW

The month of January will be "difficult in the hospital," said Olivier Véran, the Minister of Health, at the microphone of France Inter this Monday morning.

While January has barely started and the Omicron tidal wave continues to progress, in hospital wards, the situation is already critical.

500 doctors from the AP-HM (Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Marseille) also signed a forum on Monday in

to call on the French who have not yet been vaccinated to go and receive the doses they lack. 

>> READ ALSO -

 Covid-19: in Marseille, a street vaccination without an appointment to convince the undecided

"The message we are saying is: 'you have to trust us, you have to be vaccinated, otherwise we, on our side, we will not succeed'", explains Jean-Luc Jouve, orthopedic surgeon at the he Timone hospital in Marseille and signatory of the platform. The establishment has already deprogrammed 70% of operations to deal with the Omicron wave.

"We do not judge at all people who do not want to be vaccinated. What we tell them is that without a vaccine, we will be overwhelmed. We could avoid serious forms, we could prevent that there have resuscitation beds that are blocked for two weeks, three weeks, up to sixty days. That would allow many more people to operate. Imagine someone blocking a bed sixty-five days. A [patient] post- operation needs two days of resuscitation. So it is as many cancellations that are made during that time ", continues the surgeon.

Deprogramming in perspective

This Monday, January 3, around 3,500 Covid patients were in intensive care. This is half as much as during the peak of the first wave. But according to Philippe Amouyel, epidemiologist and professor of public health at Lille University Hospital, this figure should not be taken lightly. "We must remember what the peak of the first confinement was, that is to say a complete shutdown of France and the hospitals that were only working on the Covid. Life must go on, that the people who need care can be taken care of. And even if the rates do not seem high compared to the first wave, Covid patients still occupy more than half of the beds. Hence the importance of the risk with the accumulation of Delta virus cases that are currently in beds and potential future cases ofOmicron. "

>> READ ALSO -

 Covid-19: why liberal doctors are calling for a Marshall Plan

According to several studies, it will be necessary to wait until mid-January to see a decline in the occupancy rate of hospital beds.

"These are data that come from the projections of the Pasteur Institute in a context with several hypotheses: a less seriousness of the Omicron virus and especially the fact that the French are implementing a 20% reduction in their contacts. At this price -There, we will reach a peak in mid-January and we will perhaps avoid the hospital saturation linked to Omicron ", explained the epidemiologist at the microphone of Europe 1.

"They say it takes 5-10% of the susceptible, unvaccinated population to make a wave. That's about what's left over as unvaccinated patients if you don't include children. Either way. , we must continue to be vaccinated ", he recalled.