The hypothesis of an obligation of vaccination against Covid-19 for nursing staff worries while only 57% of professionals in nursing homes and 64% of those in hospitals are vaccinated.
Asked by Europe 1, some say they are ready to change jobs if they have to be forced to receive the injection.
REPORTAGE
Will vaccination against Covid-19 soon be compulsory for caregivers in France? The Prime Minister, Jean Castex, is to discuss it Thursday with the associations of elected officials. For the moment, 57% of nursing staff are vaccinated, and 64% of professionals in hospitals are also. But some caregivers categorically refuse the vaccine, and worry about a possible obligation. Some are even considering leaving the profession, such as those whom Europe 1 was able to interview in Montbard, at the Haute Côte-d'Or Hospital Center, but also in a nursing home in the Lot.
At the Haute Côte-d'Or Hospital Center, around one in two caregivers is not vaccinated.
The reasons given?
A feeling of not being affected by the virus, a worry about the long-term effects of the vaccine, or just the freedom to choose.
But sometimes, these are also conspiratorial arguments that come up in the mouths of some people.
"As long as they have not demonstrated to me that the virus exists, that it is not a manipulation, that it is not organized, I am totally against!", Insists a nurse.
"For the moment it is not obligatory so as long as it is not obligatory I do not do it, after if it becomes obligatory I will see."
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Even if it means changing jobs
Alice, also a caregiver, was vaccinated but to be able to travel abroad.
For her job, she would have said no.
"If I had been forced to take the vaccine, I would have refused and I would have changed jobs," she says.
"We don't have to force someone to get vaccinated."
She ensures that some of her relatives, also working in the medical field, are ready to quit their work in the event of compulsory vaccination.
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These threats are taken very seriously by management.
Pascale de Bernard manages one of the hospital sites, favorable to the vaccination of caregivers, she is nevertheless afraid that an obligation will make hiring even more difficult.
"We have 11 vacant nursing positions, 11 vacant nursing assistant positions that we are already unable to recruit. We already have great tensions, that will add complexity to the complexity."
In the meantime, she prefers pedagogy, and asks doctors to reassure and convince their healthcare teams.
"If I don't get the vaccine what will happen?"
Also questioned by Europe 1, Frédérique, a nursing assistant in nursing home in the Lot, believes that having the vaccine injected should remain a right and not a duty. "I do not want to be vaccinated but unfortunately we will not have the choice," she laments. "We were told that if we are not more than 80% of employees vaccinated, we would be asked to do so," she reports. "Right now, I'm on vacation and I'm feeling myself because anyway when I come back, I know very well that I will be forced to do so. I have colleagues who have not been vaccinated either. . If I do not get vaccinated what will happen? I pers my job? ", Asks Frederique again.
Questioned on this point by Europe 1, the Minister of Labor Élisabeth Borne recalled that the vaccination obligation already existed in several professions against certain diseases. "When we have a vaccination obligation and we do not respect it, it is a fault, which can lead to disciplinary sanctions up to dismissal," she explained.