In response to the referral from the Ministry of Health, the High Authority for Health (HAS) is in favor of maintaining the obligation to vaccinate against Covid for medical personnel. This obligation “concerns those who have frequent and close contact with vulnerable people and thus contributes to their protection”justifies the independent public authority in an opinion published on Friday 22 July.
For HAS, this obligation has “an ethical issue as much as one of public health” and is essential in the current context, marked by a seventh epidemic wave.
The data communicated by Public Health France have indeed shown that, if the increase in the incidence rate of the virus begins to slow down, it remains at a high level. An increase in hospital admissions was even recorded this week (+ 19% compared to the previous week) as well as an increase in the number of hospital deaths (+ 12%).
Uncertainties about the evolution of the epidemic
Although information regarding the efficacy of three-dose vaccination regimens remains limited in the context of the Omicron variant, data shared by HAS show that protection against infections is between 45% and 55%, and around 80 % against severe forms (within three months of injection).
It is in view of these data and the uncertainties » as to the evolution of the epidemic in the coming months that HAS sees no reason to call into question the obligation to vaccinate personnel working in health or medico-social establishments.
Shortly before, on July 19, the Academy of Medicine had issued a similar opinion, indicating that the return of unvaccinated caregivers to work “will not solve the shortage of manpower in hospitals”. The next day, the scientific council said to itself, ” Reserve “ on the lifting of the vaccination obligation judging that the health personnel had to stay “exemplary”.
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