Covid-19: Decree published to allow return of unvaccinated caregivers

A new step towards returning to normal life. The government published this Sunday in the Official Journal a decree allowing the return to work of caregivers who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19, who have been suspended from duty since August 2021.

“The obligation to vaccinate against Covid-19, provided for in Article 12 of the aforementioned law of August 5, 2021, is suspended,” the decree issued the day before reads. The executive branch still retains the ability to remove the unvaccinated again if the pandemic starts again, by new decree.

The conditions for this return, which include, inter alia, the reinstatement of the suspended person in the same position or in an “equivalent” position, were defined by the government in a ministerial instruction issued two weeks ago to leave hospitals and other care facilities on time. prepare.

Government against final abolition

The PCF group in the National Assembly on May 4 voted for a bill definitively abolishing the obligation to vaccinate against Covid, which would prohibit any return of suspensions. But the government is against it, and the bill has not yet been considered by the Senate.

The exclusion of unvaccinated caregivers has ignited social media, but the number affected is likely quite small. Estimates range from a few thousand, according to fragmentary data from, among others, the Ministry of Health, to “between 20 and 40,000 people,” according to Else Ruyer, leader of groups of caregivers who refuse the vaccine, which has since become elected by CGT Health.

In total, 2.7 million people who were in direct contact with the sick – nurses, nurses, doctors, paramedics, house assistants, firefighters – or indirectly, for example, administrative staff of health facilities, required mandatory vaccination. .