Covid-19 in France: the government publishes the decree lifting the vaccination obligation for caregivers

2023-05-14T14:27:25.891Z

Highlights: In France, the vaccination obligation for caregivers against Covid-19 was lifted. The government issued a decree to this effect on Sunday, May 14. It is therefore the end of an emblematic anti-Covid measure that had been decided in mid-2021. Staff who had to leave the medical world will be able to be reinstated on Monday. According to patchy data from the Ministry of Health, 0.3% of hospital workers have been suspended. On the Liberal side, the proportion would also be very low.

Covid-19 in France: the government publishes the decree lifting the vaccination obligation for caregivers

The vaccination obligation for healthcare workers against Covid-19 in France was lifted after the publication of a decree in the Official Journal on 14 May 2023. AP - Jean-Francois Badias

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

In France, the vaccination obligation for caregivers against Covid-19 was lifted. The government issued a decree to this effect on Sunday, May 14. It is therefore the end of an emblematic anti-Covid measure that had been decided in mid-2021. Staff who had to leave the medical world will be able to be reinstated on Monday.

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A few thousand of them have left the health facility in which they worked: nursing assistant, nurse, doctor or ambulance or administrative of a hospital, retirement home or other medico-social structure.

According to patchy data from the Ministry of Health, 0.3% of hospital workers have been suspended. On the Liberal side, the proportion would also be very low. Now they can practice again; Employers are obliged to offer them reinstatement as soon as possible.

The obligation to vaccinate against Covid-19, provided for in Article 12 of the above-mentioned Law of 5 August 2021, is suspended ", says the decree issued in the night from Saturday to Sunday in the Official Journal.

In deciding to lift the vaccination obligation, the Minister of Health followed the advice of the High Authority of Health, which opts to strongly recommend vaccination to caregivers rather than impose it, given the physiognomy of the Covid-19 epidemic. An opinion criticized by some health professionals, for whom antivax have no place in the medical world.

Note that from a legal point of view, the vaccination obligation is suspended. The government retains the possibility of reinstating it if the pandemic resumes, without going through Parliament. But a bill initiated by the communists to definitively repeal the vaccination obligation against Covid, which would prohibit any return of suspensions, has just been adopted by the National Assembly on May 4. It has not yet been considered by the Senate.

Covid-19 in France: the government publishes the decree lifting the vaccination obligation for caregivers

Covid-19 in France: the government publishes the decree lifting the vaccination obligation for caregivers

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