“I am not vaccinated and I do not intend to be.” Whatever happens, Alexandre * will not change his mind. “Covid-19 is a virus that is not that dangerous, estimates this 42-year-old osteopath. The majority of cases are asymptomatic and there are more risks than benefits to being vaccinated. “ However, like thousands of caregivers and people working in health establishments, this professional from the Var will have to be vaccinated by September 15 if he wants to be able to continue to practice his profession.
In the wake of Emmanuel Macron’s speech, Monday, July 12, the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, clarified that refractory caregivers risked no longer being paid or being forced to stop working. “I received these announcements very badly, it is an attack on freedoms”, denounces Alexandre. Among his fears, “the composition of vaccines” or “the fact that we do not know the long-term effects”.
With his wife, a speech therapist, the caregiver is preparing to make a radical decision: to move and work abroad.
“We have not yet chosen the destination. We are waiting to see the decisions of the European countries. This is not a concern for us, since we work as a liberal.”
Alexandre, osteopath in the Var
to franceinfo
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Computer scientist at the CHU of Fort-de-France, in Martinique, Béatrice shares this mistrust. It does not define itself as an anti-vaccine but believes that the doses against Covid-19 were administered too quickly. “I want to wait”, she claims.
“I have colleagues who have been vaccinated and who have been contaminated anyway, so I doubt the effectiveness”, Beatrice advances. However, more and more studies suggest that vaccines protect against almost all serious forms and against most symptomatic forms.
Faced with the increase in contaminations and hospitalizations, the declaration of the state of emergency in Martinique did not weaken it. “It just encourages me to stay at home and to respect barrier gestures more, she says. I am teleworking, so less at risk. I’ll ask to stay that way, maybe that’ll help me avoid the vaccine. “
For other caregivers, like Sylvie, the vaccination will be done with anger. “I’m against, confides this liberal nurse in the Bouches-du-Rhône. We don’t have enough perspective. The long-term effects are not known. ” This 53-year-old single mother with hypertension and diabetes highlights the fact that she has “never been contaminated”. “So I tell myself that barrier gestures are enough. “
Faced with the vaccine, Sylvie believes that it is “complicated to see clearly”, especially since his doctor “is also against”. She has never ruled out being vaccinated but would have preferred to have more information and time to think about it. Immediately after Emmanuel Macron’s announcements, she made an appointment for a first injection, but found “inadmissible” that we impose it on him “in a free country”.
“I would have had the possibility to stop working, I would have done it. But since I want to keep my job, I have no choice.”
Sylvie, liberal nurse in the Bouches-du-Rhône
to franceinfo
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Gilles had anticipated this obligation. Resistant to vaccination, this 59-year-old caregiver in the Rhône resolved to submit to it, three months ago, in order to be able to go on vacation. “In January, I was really afraid of messenger RNA and I rejected everything the government said”, analyze-t-il, a posteriori. “We were promised extra masks and gowns and, in the end, we had to wash them ourselves to save them … There was really fed up with everything the government announced.”
Over the months, with the appearance of variants of the coronavirus, this caregiver has changed his speech. “I saw so many deaths that I realized that the vaccination of caregivers was necessary, especially since there is no other treatment available.”
At the Institut mutualiste Montsouris, in Paris, a majority of caregivers have already been vaccinated. A small part still refuses. “I’m afraid that forcing them will have the opposite effect” and that people are stepping in, explains David Colmont, the director of care. Despite everything in favor of this obligation, which he considers late, he calls for “pay attention to communication”.
Throughout the year, David Colmont relied on the information of his 1,500 employees to make them aware of vaccination: distribution of internal newsletters, organization of conferences, vaccinations in the premises … “This allowed us, I think, to convince reluctant staff to be vaccinated.”
He now fears that the obligation of vaccination in two months, in the middle of summer, will produce above all “a stress in terms of logistics and staff reaction”.
“I don’t know if I’m going to have people reluctant, how I’m going to verify that they are vaccinated … I am very nervous about telling someone not to come to work.”
David Colmont, Director of Care at the Institut mutualiste Montsouris
to franceinfo
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Another problem: the Institute faces a shortage of personnel. “I can’t see myself telling ten nurses that I’m going without them because they are not vaccinated”, continues the director. “In the end, it is society that will suffer”, he fears.
For other professionals, the obligation of vaccination for caregivers is only logical if all French people end up being vaccinated. “The French need restrictions and firmness, it turned out well with the number of slot reservations made after the speech [du président]“, believes Cédric, doctor in Toulouse.
“Some people speak of a ‘health dictatorship’ badly. Me, it does not shock me to use this expression if it is for the good of everyone. You have to think of others.”
Cédric, doctor in Toulouse
to franceinfo
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Sabrina, a liberal nurse in the Bouches-du-Rhône, also thinks that compulsory vaccination should be extended to everyone, especially if the epidemic continues with the variants. “The caregivers have already given for months. If there is a fourth wave, this gap with the population would be badly lived in our ranks.”
* The first name followed by an asterisk has been changed at the request of the interested party.
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