After the publication of a decree from the Prime Minister at the end of last week, firefighters can now be called upon by the competent administrations (regional health agency, communities) to carry out the anti-Covid vaccination.
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In the barracks, amazement competes with anger. The representative unions (Autonomous Federation, Cgt, Cfdt, Sud, national union of professional firefighters, Cftc and FO) are standing up to what they point the finger at as a decree ukase. “A passage in force of the government which wants to make savings on the backs of the liberal nurses and the pharmacies”, storms Rémy Chabbouh, secretary of South at the SDMIS (Lyon). Since Saturday March 13, a vaccination center made available by the town hall of Villeurbanne at the cultural center and community life has called on nurses from the firefighters. But what shocks most of the unions is when it comes to volunteer firefighters, who take the work of caregivers.
Because such a decision goes against the guarantees of safety and security that should normally accompany the gesture of vaccination, devolved only to health professionals. “The requisitioned volunteer firefighters were entitled to an hour of training on mannequins, while the nurses undergo three years of studies, including a good part on intrusive gestures such as intravenous or intramuscular,” laments a firefighter. ‘a barracks in the south of Lyon.
A tree that hides the forest
In the Lyon area, we are not there, recognizes Remy Chabbouh. But among professional firefighters, misunderstanding is growing. There was no consultation, denounces an official of the Autonomous Federation. No official representative body for the staff has been put in the loop. Discussions with the Prime Minister’s services would have taken place with one of the many associations under the 1901 law grouping together firefighters. “We are not doctors, pharmacists or nurses! We are firefighters! By what right has the Federation of Volunteer Firefighters of France, which does not represent the titular rescuers, allow itself to involve us in this controversial management of the deployment of the vaccination campaign? “, Castigates the first union among firefighters on its Facebook page.
Above all, with this decree, the firefighters say they no longer understand what the real problem is: the shortage of doses or the cost relating to the intervention of the personnel responsible for administering them to patients. “We believed that we were running out of vaccines and we realize that it is a question of money. We thought that when the professionals had the equipment, they would launch the campaigns. However, we call in reinforcement of volunteers whose job is not. For nurses and other caregivers, it is humiliating! “
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