We knew that the number of 3,000 caregivers suspended because refusing to be vaccinated against Covid-19, announced by Olivier Véran in mid-September, was "underestimated".
This was recognized by the Ministry of Health after a few days.
A month later, we have an updated and more reliable statement… but which remains, by nature, an order of magnitude.
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health said that 0.6% of the 2.7 million professionals obliged to have received at least one dose of vaccine since September 15, including caregivers, had been suspended. As of this Friday, they are even supposed to be fully vaccinated (most often after receiving a second dose).
But where does this 0.6% come from?
Relaunched several times during the press point organized on Tuesday, the ministry had not provided more information.
The Directorate General of Health (DGS) tells us that this share relates to the feedback made by a little more than half of the health or medico-social establishments.
“A little over 7,000 suspensions” were recorded there, or 0.6% of the workforce.
Thus, by extrapolating, we can fall back on the 16,000 members of staff suspended in total in France (not all establishments have the same staff).
Vaccinated since September 15
The fact remains that this number is only an estimate with “methodological limits” and it only gives an “order of magnitude”, recognizes the DGS.
First of all, we cannot certify that the proportion of suspended caregivers is the same in establishments that have not yet submitted their data as in others.
Moreover, at the end of September, on a necessarily smaller sample, the Directorate-General for the provision of care (DGOS) told us that "the actual suspensions
(represented)
0.9% of staff".
Read alsoWhy compulsory vaccination has not caused a shortage of caregivers in the hospital
The difference could also be explained by the fact that health professionals initially reluctant have been able to be vaccinated ... since September 15.
In this case, their suspension is lifted and they immediately return to their position and their salary.
Several caregivers interviewed heard from colleagues in this case and returned to work.
The share of suspensions, estimated today at 0.6%, "has been able to decrease over the past few weeks", recognizes the DGS.
Without providing further details, these data are "still in the process of being consolidated".
The professions concerned more or less concerned
It should also be kept in mind that the proportion of suspended, and therefore unvaccinated, differs greatly depending on the profession. The vaccination obligation encompasses all categories working in health centers: doctors, nurses, but also paramedical staff and logistics, security agents, etc. However, at the end of July, the director general of Public Assistance - Paris Hospitals (AP-HP), Martin Hirsch, indicated for example that 95% of doctors, 66% of nurses and only "a little less than half" of stretcher bearers and orderlies had been vaccinated. A finding that can also be found at the national level.
Rémi Salomon, president of the medical commission of the AP-HP, tells us this Friday that nearly 450 suspensions have been decided: "only 16 doctors, a hundred nurses and all the rest of nursing assistants , stretcher bearers and other professionals ”.
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Finally, some unvaccinated employees may be absent… but without having been suspended.
This Friday, the Director General of Health Insurance, Thomas Fatôme, indicated on France Info that 39 doctors were the subject of investigations because they were suspected of having issued work stoppages "of convenience".
“Excluding maternity leave and sick leave, absenteeism increased by 2 points compared to the same period last year
(at AP-HP),
” says Rémi Salomon.
Judging "possible that a small part" is due to such abuses, he especially points to the exhaustion of the teams and the burn-out of some caregivers after more than a year and a half of the pandemic.