Paris (AFP)

The debate on the compulsory vaccination of caregivers against Covid-19 continued throughout the weekend and the executive will increase consultations from Monday, especially around this issue.

In a column in the Journal du Dimanche, 96 doctors, including department heads who have become media figures of the pandemic, asked the government "to take the decision now to require vaccination" for any employee of an nursing home or nursing home. 'a hospital "(s') exposing or exposing the people for whom it is responsible to risks of contamination" to Covid-19.

They want a measure "effective before the beginning of September" to "avoid a fourth wave", as the rapid progression of the Delta variant has prompted the executive to revive this debate due to vaccination rates of 57% in the provinces. Ehpad and 64% in hospitals according to the French Hospital Federation (FHF).

A level which "remains clearly insufficient" also explained in the JDD the "Mister vaccine" of the government, Alain Fischer.

And to conclude that "for these professionals, we have reached this point of last resort" of the obligation.

Prime Minister Jean Castex is to receive from Monday the leaders of Parliament and local elected officials to address, among other things, this issue.

The government is working on a bill, a government source said on Thursday.

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The subject will undoubtedly also be discussed at the Elysee Palace, where Emmanuel Macron will once again receive union and employer leaders on Tuesday for an overview of current affairs.

- Exceptions -

The bosses of Medef and CFDT, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux and Laurent Berger, have already given their point of view.

In a joint column published by the JDD under the title "Vaccination is the only solution", they say they are "attached to two principles: voluntary service and medical confidentiality. But" the former may however have exceptions for employees in contact with the public in the name of the indispensable protection of others ".

This is the main argument of the supporters of compulsory vaccination of health personnel, while the pressure has been decreasing for several weeks on the French health system.

On Saturday, 7,912 Covid-19 patients were hospitalized, at the lowest since October 9, in the midst of the rise of the second epidemic wave which would lead to containment.

Critical care, reserved for the most seriously ill patients, returned to their level at the end of September, with 1,102 patients.

The government therefore does not intend to extend the debate on compulsory vaccination any further.

"Today, our working environment is caregivers, not beyond caregivers," the government spokesperson, Gabriel Attal, said on Sunday once again on radio J. For him, "the question compulsory vaccination for the entire population at this stage does not arise ", although he has learned" never to exclude anything for the future on principle ".

But some say they are already in favor of this hypothesis, such as the boss of the Modem and High Commissioner for Planning, François Bayrou in the Grand Jury RTL / LCI / Le Figaro.

"Let's start with persuasion and incitement," he insisted, however.

The Minister of Health Olivier Véran, who insisted that the question was not on the table, will have the opportunity to give his opinion on Sunday evening.

He is expected at a special edition of the Solidays music festival ... dedicated to caregivers.

© 2021 AFP