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From this Monday, May 15, non-vaccinated caregivers will be able to be reinstated. But it remains very complicated to quantify the phenomenon (illustrative photo taken in March 2023 in Lyon).
HEALTH – It has been 20 months since they can no longer exercise their profession. From this Monday, May 15, in the wake of the publication of the decree which published this Sunday which lifts the obligation to vaccinate against Covid-19, caregivers who had been suspended for not having been able to present a complete vaccination schedule will be considered as ” reinstated “.
This means that they will have to be reassigned to a job ” equivalent to the one they occupied before their suspension. But how many staff are really affected by this reintegration, which has taken a political turn in recent weeks?
Initially, when it was voted in August 2021, the vaccination obligation concerned 2.7 million people, including firefighters, hospital research assistants or home helpers, for example. But above all, many caregivers. From September 15 of that same year, when the text came into force, all those who could not justify the injection of a dose were mechanically suspended. About 15,000 people, including the private and the public, had estimated at the time the Ministry of Health.
As the epidemic evolved, as the complete vaccination schedule became denser, it was necessary to attest to a second, then a third dose. A Covid contamination equivalent to a dose of vaccine, some non-vaccinated caregivers were able to appear again for a few weeks after being tested positive. And others, in nearly two years, ended up changing their minds and agreeing to get vaccinated.
” They are not necessarily going to be greeted with roses… »
Which therefore brings us back to the thorny question of the number of caregivers currently suspended and to whom the lifting of the vaccination obligation will benefit. ” It’s quite complicated and difficult to say since the numbers vary greatly “, declared on May 6 on franceinfo Agnès Firmin-Le Bodo, the Minister Delegate in charge of the health professions. And to add: I will be careful not to give figures. We’ll see when it happens. »
And for good reason: at the end of March, the ministry estimated around “ 0.3% “the proportion of hospital agents suspended (which would represent approximately 4,000 people out of a total of 1.2 million people), while the health insurance insurance spoke of less than 2,000 concerned only among the liberals. For his part, the Minister of Health François Braun spoke on France Bleu of “ 0.2% of hospital staff, and quantified as an example the number of suspended nurses at around 600.
But between those who have changed jobs and those who do not intend to return anyway after having spent a long time away from the healthcare system, the number of people to be reintegrated is perhaps even smaller. Especially since staff who refuse their new assignment could be struck off on the grounds of abandoning their post, further reducing the number of returning caregivers.
This is why Minister Firmin-Le Bodo preferred to greet the vast majority of staff in hospitals and other healthcare structures. ” Let’s not forget that more than 99% of caregivers have been vaccinated, and it is to them that we must pay tribute. “An exit evoking that, a few days earlier, of his supervisory minister François Braun, who declared about the caregivers soon to be reinstated: “ They are not necessarily going to be greeted with roses… A way of showing their small number compared to the overwhelming majority of vaccinated.
A marginal phenomenon and a fight that continues
And as for the extent of the returns to be expected on May 15, there remains the testimonies, which illustrate the marginal nature of the reintegrations to come. On franceinfo, the infectiologist Benjamin Davido, very present in the media throughout the Covid crisis to hammer home the importance of vaccination, for example declared that to his knowledge, no caregiver wishes ” come back to work in his hospital in Garches, near Paris. And this already starting from a very small number of suspended caregivers, “ the few who have deserted the establishment “.
A story that can be found everywhere in France, especially in the accounts given by the local press. For example, there are only seven caregivers still suspended at the Brest University Hospital, reports The Telegrama dozen at the CHRU in Tours, counting the administrative agents according to The New Republic, and they would be around fifty in public hospitals in Alsace (out of nearly 20,000 people), relates France Bleu. Figures which increase slightly Overseas, where opposition to the vaccine has been stronger than in France, like Guyana, says La 1ère.
But, and this is where the difficulty of the costing arises, not sure that all these latter recalcitrants will resume their post on May 15. Deprived of pay and therefore of years of contribution for retirement during their suspension, and now threatened with abandonment of post if they do not accept their new position, some suspended plan indeed to continue their fight legally. Others, on the other hand, are just waiting to get their jobs back. How much remains to be seen.
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