Vaccination against seasonal flu should be "
exceptionally
" made compulsory this year for staff in retirement homes, in order to prevent nursing homes from managing this winter the "
double penalty
" of influenza and Covid-19, pleaded Tuesday September 8, the main union of private establishments.
"
For a resident to be protected from the flu, he must be vaccinated and approximately 80% of his environment must be vaccinated
", explained at a press point Florence Arnaiz-Maumé, the general delegate of Synerpa .
Read also: Towards a record flu vaccination season in 2020-2021
“
The elderly often volunteer for vaccination.
On the other hand, we only have 20 to 30% of employees vaccinated each year.
This is why we are in favor of, even exceptionally, making the vaccine compulsory this year,
”she added.
If the flu virus is circulating in establishments this winter, it will be all the more difficult to identify suspected cases of Covid-19, argued Ms. Arnaiz-Maumé.
Regarding the coronavirus, Synerpa has also asked the public authorities to make retirement homes a priority in access to tests for residents and staff, the current deadlines being "
too long
".
When a suspect case is detected, and the management of the establishment therefore decides to have “
100% of residents and 100% of staff
”
tested
, “
it takes three or four days to organize the tests, then 4 to 5 more days to get the results, it's too long!
», Detailed the manager.
Especially since, in the meantime, the directors of the establishment do not know whether they should reconfigure the retirement home as a precaution, she added.
As for masks, they should continue to be provided by Health Insurance, argued Ms. Arnaiz-Maumé, worried that the device for the weekly provision of masks will end on September 30.
"
We need either that we continue to supply us with material paid for by the Social Security, or that we are given 6 to 10 weeks of stocks
", underlined the general delegate of Synerpa.
Otherwise, each establishment would have to spend an average of nearly 9 euros per week and per bed to provide themselves with masks, calculated the professional union.
“
It would be difficult for residents to imagine
” that this sum would be reflected in the accommodation price charged to families, according to the general delegate.