Ninety-six doctors call for compulsory vaccination against Covid-19 for caregivers in an article published on Sunday, July 4 in the Sunday Newspaper. Among them, André Grimaldi, professor emeritus at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris, founder of the Inter-Hôpitaux collective. “Why did you choose this profession if it is to weaken others?”, he is indignant on franceinfo on Sunday. The healthcare professional “must ensure the safety of its patients, so being vaccinated goes without saying”, according to him.
franceinfo: Not getting vaccinated, is it professional misconduct?
André Grimaldi: There have been 30,000 people who caught Covid-19 in hospital and including healthcare workers, with more than 26,000 cases. Today, a vaccine is available and in the rules of the profession there is: do no harm. Patients are by nature vulnerable and they entrust their health to a professional. This professional must ensure the safety of his patients, so being vaccinated goes without saying, as moreover taking all the precautions not to worsen the situation of a patient.
What if a caregiver refuses?
This is part of the common rules for living together and these rules help each other. Like everyone else, I want my freedom. I am convinced, as with the 11 compulsory vaccinations for children, that if we say that it is compulsory and we discuss it, the vast majority of those who are reluctant will do so. There is a paradox: why did you choose this job if you can infect a fragile, immunocompromised, elderly, obese or diabetic person? There are 20 million people who have a chronic illness. These are not people at the end of their lives, so at some point there has to be a rule.
Does this imply sanctions for those who do not respect this rule, with a ban on exercising?
This means changing the location so as not to make vulnerable people in your care, such as in pediatrics, if there is no risk, or in an administrative position. Or we change jobs. Why did you choose this profession if it is to weaken others?
Then there is another question, that of a health policy pursued for years. Today a nurse stays in a team for one or two years. Before, we had united teams and that made it easier for everyone to get vaccinated. Today people are treated like pawns that are being dragged around and we lose professional quality and a sense of collective responsibility. For example, in some services practically everyone is vaccinated and not in others.
Responsibilities are not just individual. Health has been treated as a commodity like any other. We collect what we have sown and the responsibility is political.
Should we also vaccinate all professions in contact with the public?
For servers and traders, it is first and foremost to protect them themselves. But when I go to a shopkeeper, I don’t confide my health to them. When I go to a supermarket it’s not like when I go to the hospital. When I go to the hospital I have a health problem and I don’t want to be given another one. When I go to a supermarket, I want the safety rules to be respected. I agree that the entire population is concerned by the population, but health is not an activity like any other.
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