Freedom, equality ... boosted?
As France begins to feel the first slowdowns in deliveries of anti-Covid-19 vaccines with postponements of appointments in several regions, it seems that some have been guilty of small arrangements with the priority rules.
The very mediatic Michel Cymes himself declared in the press people to have had requests from all sides.
“Since I'm a bit of a TV business, I've been called by some very, very famous people, who aren't in the over 75s or over 50s caregivers, who said to me: ' You couldn't try to 'get me'… Of course I say no. "
"Non-priority VIPs" in the crosshairs
But not all doctors seem so quick to abide by the rules of ethics.
At least that is what the CGT Hôtel-Dieu de Paris asserts, which on January 26 denounced in a press release irregularities with the administrative staff of the city of Paris.
The Public Assistance - Hospitals of Paris (AP-HP) had to "refuse caregivers and vulnerable elderly" in favor of "staff of the City of Paris and other non-priority VIPs", can we read in the document from from the power station.
If true, the facts reported by the CGT are very serious.
It would not be tolerable that non-priority groups could be vaccinated when we run out of doses for the 2nd injection of health professionals.
AP-HP psdte @Anne_Hidalgo must be transparent pic.twitter.com/Bg68NH65fq
- Geoffroy Boulard (@geoffroyboulard) January 28, 2021
"It is not a question of appointing scapegoats, believes an emergency doctor and responsible for the CGT, contacted by France 24 and who wished to remain anonymous. But in a context of shortage of vaccines, there are people who are are in great distress and therefore there is no reason that these privileges exist. "
In theory, at Hôtel-Dieu as in the rest of the territory, vaccination is only open to people over 75 and caregivers over 50.
All it takes is "a call to a well-placed doctor"
The AP-HP has recognized the existence of an agreement with the town hall, but the latter only concerns the vaccination of municipal agents in conjunction with the medical framework, for "health and medico-social professionals aged over 50 or with comorbidities ".
For its part, the mayor of Paris is defending itself from such practices in its ranks.
"We checked each name, each of the agents who had been able to benefit from a vaccination at the Hôtel-Dieu, we confirm that there was no privilege," Antoine Guillou told AFP, assistant in charge of human resources.
"From this point of view, the comments of the CGT of the Hôtel-Dieu are completely defamatory."
Yesterday a union made the buzz about alleged privileges of @Paris agents in terms of vaccination.
There are not any.
Hopefully the truth will be restored by whoever started this false rumor @AntoineGuillou @annesouyris https://t.co/BmdS1b1oKt
- Colombe Brossel (@cbrossel) January 29, 2021
However, the CGT is formal: "Teams of caregivers have seen the vaccination center of the high-ranking administrative staff of the town hall", assures the same source to France 24. The officials of the Town hall are not the only to benefit from privileges, if we do not believe the union.
Health workers told the union that they had also vaccinated commissioners, a chief of staff and senior officials from various ministries.
"It must be said that the vaccination center is located next to the square of Notre-Dame, only a few hundred meters from the town hall, the prefecture and ministries. They only have one call for a well-placed doctor. to pass, then a few steps to be taken to be vaccinated, "continues the emergency doctor who recognizes that these privileges represent" only a small number of individuals ".
"But they do exist."
Usual practices at the AP-HP
Practices that are not exceptional continues the practitioner.
"In normal times, we already see the AP-HP in this kind of privilege with the setting of appointments. To avoid waiting times before consulting eminent professors, many people have taken the 'habit of going through the private sector preferring to pay more for the consultation than to wait several months before obtaining a hearing. The schemes of friends and rascals are everywhere, "laments the head of the CGT.
The rest of France is not spared.
Under fire from critics, some privileged people pinned down by the regional press, like Alain Rousset, the president of the New Aquitaine region, have argued that they wanted to "set an example" as a justification.
Others said they were vaccinated to finish off doses that would have been thrown away.
Scandals in Europe
Explanations that can be found among our European neighbors, because these little favors are not the prerogative of France.
The Spanish press has recently echoed larger scandals.
"At least 700" political, military and religious leaders have been publicly accused of favoritism leading to dismissals, resignations and public explanations, according to Europa Press.
In Austria, justice was seized after local elected officials were secretly administered the precious serum in retirement homes.
Same story reported in Wales, with employees from Denbighshire County.
Ditto with relatives of caregivers in Ireland.
In Italy, the practice is such that these privileged people have been baptized "the malignant vaccinees".
The affair even took a political turn in Poland.
Leszek Miller, the 76-year-old former Prime Minister and Social Democratic MEP, was vaccinated at the end of December with the first patients, drawing the wrath of the press.
Later, the Poles discovered that 450 doses were then intended for personalities of the culture and elected officials to again "promote vaccination", while the majority of Poles are in favor of the vaccine.
"A real scandal," reacted the Conservative Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, stressing that members of the opposition had also gone astray.
Suspicion
Across the Atlantic, many complaints have been filed in Brazil against political figures, such as Reginaldo Prado, mayor of Candiba.
The councilor was vaccinated when his city had received barely a hundred doses for 15,000 inhabitants.
In this context of general suspicion fueled by the shortage, some personalities like Jean Castex preferred to publicly refuse the vaccine from the outset, to cut short the accusations.
In sports, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has also had to take a stand to say that athletes do not have to get skip-the-line.
In France, the president of the National Olympic Committee, Denis Masséglia, also indicated that athletes, like others, had to wait their turn.
"No question of athletes having priority over other categories of the population, but between now and the Games, we can think that there will be the possibility of having them vaccinated without it penalizing other people", he hoped, however.
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