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Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director)
The Academy of Medicine recorded its refusal to reinstate non-vaccinated caregivers in a statement after the session of Questions to the government on July 19, when human needs are blatant in hospitals.
Mentioned on Tuesday July 19 during the debates in the National Assembly, the reintegration of unvaccinated caregivers was categorically refused by the National Academy of Medicine, which reiterated all its reservations in a press release.
Reintegrate unvaccinated caregivers, a fault for the Academy of Medicine
The Academy of Medicine expresses “its firm opposition” to any reintegration of unvaccinated caregivers. This is the content of its press release published on July 19 when the subject was raised in the National Assembly.“Any refusal to be vaccinated motivated by personal convictions is respectable, but incompatible with the profession of caregiver” advances the association.
“The reintegration of non-vaccinated healthcare professionals into the healthcare team would compromise the climate of trust and cohesion that must exist between its members and with the patients. It would endanger the fragile patients.” continues the press release which places the decision on an ethical level and does not wish to change the situation, despite the needs.
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A moral point of view, out of step with scientific reality
On the ground, on the side of caregivers and hospitals precisely, the press release does not pass. “It is a position of the Academy of Medicine, a simple point of view moreover more moral than scientific” regrets Dr. Gérald Kierzek, emergency physician, recalling in passing that the Academy, made up of mainly retired doctors, is not authoritative. “During the whole Covid crisis, the Academy has done a tremendous job of providing information, but here it is taking a position that is not based on the scientific context that we know today”.
Statements confirmed by Professor Antoine Flahaut, professor of public health, for whom “The continued suspension of unvaccinated caregivers is no longer scientifically sound” and who goes further claiming in a tweet that “ethically, there are no more reasons not to reintegrate unvaccinated personnel” (…) and that “not reintegrating unvaccinated personnel without a minimum of scientific basis would create a questionable precedent in terms of management officials”.
1/3 – Maintaining the suspension of unvaccinated caregivers is no longer scientifically sound. There is in fact no reason to require the vaccine among caregivers because it does not avoid or sufficiently reduce contamination with the new variants of the #SARS-CoV-2
— Antoine FLAHAULT (@FLAHAULT) July 20, 2022
In addition, the vaccine does not prevent transmission, and caregivers who adopt all barrier gestures do not have any greater risk of infecting vaccinated or unvaccinated patients. “What about positive caregivers who still have to come to work now” recalls Gérald Kierzek. “The reality is that we currently need everyone, so everyone should be present, that’s all” he concludes.
As a reminder, since September 15, 2021, all professionals working in the health and medico-social sectors are subject to the vaccination obligation against Covid-19. A situation unchanged to date. In total, nearly 0.3% of hospital professionals, caregivers and non-caregivers, have thus been suspended since the fall of 2021, according to the French Hospital Federation.