The High Authority for Health (HAS) will make new recommendations in March and July on the vaccination obligations of caregivers, including concerning Covid-19, she announced on Wednesday.
Requested by the Directorate General for Health to update all the recommendations relating to the vaccination obligations and recommendations of professionals, the HAS will first assess in March “the relevance of modifying the vaccination obligations in force concerning diphtheria, tetanus, poliomyelitis and hepatitis B”.
The question of Covid-19
It will also deal, in this first part, with the relevance of maintaining the Covid-19 vaccination obligation for caregivers “in view of the evolution of the epidemiological situation and medical and scientific knowledge”. HAS intends to update knowledge regarding the frequency of occurrence of these diseases.
Then it will study “the impact of the various possible measures (implementation, suspension or maintenance of a vaccination obligation) on vaccination coverage, on the incidence of infections contracted by professionals in the exercise of their work and among persons for whom they are responsible and on the absenteeism of the professionals concerned”. Its work will be carried out in parallel with that of the National Ethics Council (CCNE), which must also rule on the situation of caregivers suspended following refusing to be vaccinated once morest Covid-19.
A public consultation “very soon”
The question of the reintegration of unvaccinated caregivers has been controversial since the vaccination obligation for health personnel was put in place in September 2021. In November, President Emmanuel Macron estimated that their return to hospital should be a decision “scientifically established”, “not a political choice”.
Next July, the HAS will assess the vaccinations currently recommended for students and professionals in the health sector, once morest whooping cough, influenza, hepatitis A, measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox.
As part of the first part of its work, “HAS will very soon organize the public consultation submitting its draft recommendation to stakeholders,” she announced. In order to “gather as widely as possible the opinion of the main actors concerned by the subject”, an online questionnaire will be accessible between February 17 and March 3.
