Has compulsory vaccination of health care workers always been an option the government is considering?
Caregivers have not been vaccinated against Covid-19 as of September 15th”He will not be able to work and will not be paid anymore “On Monday, July 12th, Minister of Health Olivier Veran, after the Head of State declared the necessity of vaccination for this category of the population. And this vaccination is a duty, “We always said it was an option “, He said Sunday, July 11 Minister of State for European Affairs, Clement Bonn.
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In fact, the government’s position has evolved over the months. “I also want to be clear, I won’t make vaccination mandatory”However, the head of state announced November 24. Emmanuel Macron renewed this commitment in a tweet on December 27.
I’ve said it and I’ll repeat it: the vaccine will not be mandatory. Let’s trust our researchers and doctors. We are the land of lights and the shepherd, we must be guided by reason and science.
– Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) December 27, 2020
However, the government is still considering compulsory vaccination of caregivers for several months. Indeed, Health Minister Olivier Veran has allowed, as of March, the possibility of adhering to the suspension if the stimulus measures are not sufficient.
This change in the position of the government, against the background of the epidemiological recovery associated with the Delta change, follows the change in the position of the scientific bodies responsible for advising the government. The Scientific Council, which in July 2020 was considered a duty ‘Unwanted and unimaginable’ A, in an announcement posted on Friday, July 9 Compulsory vaccination recommended for caregivers. The Vaccine Strategy Steering Board has done the same June 24. The Haute Autorité de Santé, which in the fall considered that vaccination against Covid-19 should not be mandatory, either Recommended July 9 To be considered “without delay” for professionals dealing with vulnerable people.
Developments of this kind in the field of vaccines are not new. A vaccine strategy is rarely set in stone and can evolve over time and public health imperatives. The public health law defines it,”The decree may, taking into account the development of the epidemiological situation and medical and scientific knowledge, suspend obligations for all or part of the populationSerum. Obligations that can then be reinstated if the new situation requires it.
So the law could introduce new commitments, as was the case in 2018 to extend eleven mandatory childhood vaccinations. But the decree could suspend, on the contrary, an obligation to vaccinate that was in force. This has been the case with respect to caregivers’ obligation to be vaccinated against influenza. This obligation was introduced by law in 2005, before being suspended by decree the following year.
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