The Haute Autorité de Santé is launching a public consultation on Monday February 20 on the potential lifting of the vaccination obligation for caregivers, concerning Covid-19 but also other compulsory vaccines.
Will caregivers who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19 soon be able to return to their jobs? In any case, this is a line of thought for the High Authority for Health (HAS), whose opinions are generally followed by the government. The HAS launched this Monday a public consultation on the vaccination obligation of caregivers, both concerning Covid-19 but also for other diseases (diphtheria, tetanus, poliomyelitis and hepatitis B).
“In the current context, the vaccination obligation against Covid-19 could be lifted for all the professionals targeted” by this constraint, judged the HAS, in its draft opinion made public on Monday. “This vaccination should however remain strongly recommended, in particular for professions for which a vaccination recommendation is currently in force for the flu”, warned the health authority. “HAS insists on the fact that the lifting of a vaccination obligation in the professional environment should not be considered as a questioning of the interest of this vaccination, whether in the professional environment or in the general population”, he said. -she adds.
A political debate
However, the HAS has not issued a definitive opinion on the question, and has set up a public consultation on Monday until March 3, via an online questionnaire to which professionals, associations, unions or institutions in the sector medico-social can answer.
Since August 2021, people working in health establishments are subject to the vaccination obligation against Covid-19. The question of the rehabilitation of non-vaccinated caregivers has generated lively debate within the political sphere, the National Rally and insubordinate France pleading for their reintegration, unlike the presidential majority which has refused to do so until then. The Insoumis had even planned a bill to reinstate these caregivers at the end of 2022, which ultimately did not come to fruition.
The government finally seized the HAS as well as the National Council of Ethics (CCNE) so that the two organizations look into the question of the suspended caregivers.