The government needs to clarify, from a legal point of view, who will be empowered to authorize the vaccination against the Covid-19 of an elderly person with cognitive disorders, asked Tuesday, December 8, the union representing private retirement homes.
This issue must be resolved before the launch of the vaccination campaign on a large scale in nursing homes, probably from mid-January, pleaded at a press conference the general delegate of Synerpa, Florence Arnaiz-Maumé.
Between 40 and 60% not able to make the decision
According to the establishments, between 40 and 60% of the residents of the retirement homes are not able to make themselves the important decisions concerning them, because of the disease of Alzheimer or other related disorders, underlined Florence Arnaiz -Maumé.
However, vaccination will not be compulsory, and therefore it will be essential to ensure the “free and informed” consent of the elderly who will be vaccinated
, said Tuesday, December 8 in a press release the Minister for Autonomy, Brigitte Bourguignon.
We will have to clarify who must give consent, because it is not possible that, if an elderly person has two or five children, we ask everyone’s opinion. We need a single referent
, underlined the general delegate of Synerpa.
The simplest would in theory be to apply to the legal guardian or curator of the elderly person, but most seniors suffering from cognitive disorders do not benefit from such a procedure, due to the congestion of justice, a- she observed.
Consent that must be recorded
Collection of consent will be difficult given the delay accumulated by our country in terms of access to legal protections, which are essential for many elderly people
, also observed in this regard the association AD-PA, which brings together directors of retirement homes and home help structures.
We want the consent to be recorded, written, integrated into the medical file, so that there is no risk of dispute
, observed Florence Arnaiz-Maumé.
Beyond this difficulty, professionals in the sector expect that residents of nursing homes, who have priority for vaccination, are mostly in favor of this gesture, because it is rather the younger generations who are anti-vaccines
, according to the general delegate of Synerpa.
The nursing homes were severely affected by the second wave of the epidemic: since July 20, around half of the establishments have declared at least one case of Covid. And on December 1 there were 1,422 clusters
in retirement homes, according to Public Health France.
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