While healthcare workers are reluctant to be vaccinated against Covid-19 with AstraZeneca, the Minister of Health sent them a solemn letter, evoking collective security.
A method described as "despicable" by the spokesperson for the national nurses' union.
On Europe 1 on Saturday, he asked for a more effective vaccine for a population very exposed to the virus.
"Our collective security is at stake."
The words used in a letter by Olivier Véran to encourage healthcare staff to be vaccinated against Covid-19 are strong.
The Minister of Health notably recalled that only 30% of caregivers were vaccinated, a rate which climbs to 40% in nursing homes.
A figure "encouraging but which is progressing too little", according to Olivier Véran.
Especially since the stocks of the AstraZeneca product are able to cover this population much more widely.
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"The caregivers do not refuse to be vaccinated"
But it is the vaccine itself that gets stuck.
“Caregivers do not refuse to be vaccinated! Caregivers do not want AstraZeneca, because it is not effective enough for a population like caregivers. As they are at high risk, they need a more effective vaccine. 'AstraZeneca ", defended Thierry Amouroux, the spokesperson for the national nurses union on Saturday morning on Europe 1. He was also very upset against the strategy of persuasion employed by Olivier Véran:" the method of transforming caregivers as scapegoats to hide their own incompetence to manage the epidemic and vaccination is quite despicable, "he denounced.
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In addition, in his letter of twenty lines sent Friday evening, the Minister of Health does not mention a potential obligation, even if the hypothesis is not excluded by the executive.