While France is hit by a fourth wave of Covid-19 contamination, the question of compulsory vaccination for all is once again stirring public debate.
Frédéric Valletoux, chairman of the board of directors of the Fédération hospitalière de France, believes that this option should be seriously considered.
INTERVIEW
If more than 52% of French people have received their two doses of vaccine, the progression of the Delta variant continues at a worrying rate. More than 19,500 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded on Sunday. Currently, 7,500 patients are hospitalized, including 1,100 in critical care. During his speech of July 12, Emmanuel Macron had suggested that compulsory vaccination for all, and not only for caregivers, remained an option to contain the epidemic outbreak: "Depending on the evolution of the situation, we will have to without doubt we ask the question of compulsory vaccination, "he said. Three weeks later, some caregivers and politicians believe it is time to reconsider this option.
"I call for us to be able to open this debate calmly", explains at the microphone of Europe 1 Frédéric Valletoux, the president of the board of directors of the Hospital Federation of France (FHF).
"We can see that the health pass, which is a positive and beneficial measure, which has already produced effects on the increase in the number of vaccinated, remains complicated to set up. And we know that we have, faced with this virus, an absolute weapon which is the vaccine, ”he notes.
"I think compulsory vaccination is a topic that needs to be debated today."
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"There is resistance to the vaccine in our country, it is not new"
But while several hundred thousand people demonstrated again this weekend against the health pass, is the hypothesis of compulsory vaccination for the entire population audible? "Those who have demonstrated will always be fewer than those who have been vaccinated," sweeps Frédéric Valletoux. "There is resistance to the vaccine in our country. It is not new," recalls the boss of the FHF, who believes that this protest movement also serves as a catalyst for a wider movement of opposition to the government. "
We must put the subject back in terms of public health and the capacity for our health system to cope with [the epidemic] ", he pleads." Mandatory vaccination is a solution that would undoubtedly allow us to get around the problem. page of this epidemic. "" In the coming weeks, in all countries, the debate on compulsory vaccination will rise, "predicts Frédéric Valletoux.