In France, vaccination coverage is far too low. The National Order of Nurses wants the role of these professionals in influenza vaccination to be expanded.
While the national peak of the flu epidemic is expected to be reached next week, hospital emergency departments in several regions are overwhelmed. Some have created “crisis units” to urgently increase their reception capacity. In France, each year, the flu affects an average of 2.5 million people and kills between 3,000 and 8,000 people.
But this year, we are seeing the return of a particularly virulent virus, close to the one that had contributed in 2015 to an excess mortality of 18,300 people according to official figures. Marisol Touraine said Wednesday, at the exit of the Council of Ministers, that the toll of the flu “will probably be heavy”. To explain it, the Minister of Health recalled that vaccination coverage remains far too low in France.
600 nurses available to vaccinate
During the 2015-2016 campaign, only 48% of those insured at risk were vaccinated, while the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends coverage of 75%. Faced with these figures, the National Order of nurses decided to react. In a press release published on Friday, he recalls that “since 2008, nurses have been vaccinating people over the age of 65 and suffering from certain chronic pathologies, with the exception of primary vaccination, without prior medical prescription”. This public health measure allows the vaccination of nearly 1 million people by nurses, and this every year.
“But why not extend this role to a larger population, and primarily those around vulnerable people? He asks himself. “Today there are 600,000 professionals, 100,000 of whom visit patients’ homes every day across the country,” he adds. Thus, like the midwives who very recently saw their role expanded by simple decree, the Order is proposing an expansion of the role of nurses in terms of vaccination, “perfectly trained to perform this act of care,” he says.
Vaccine: towards an obligation for caregivers?
In addition, the institution remembers that the citizen consultation on vaccination chaired by Professor Alain Fischer, has just recommended a “strong recommendation of the vaccination of professionals”. The National Academy of Medicine also supports this proposal which it considers “the most effective measure to improve vaccination coverage”. Didier Borniche, President of the Order of Nurses, therefore wishes to participate in this debate by indicating that a recent opinion from the High Council of Public Health (HCSP) recommends compulsory vaccination for health professionals in certain cases. It therefore invites us to reflect on this question.
“Making the vaccination of caregivers compulsory can be justified both to protect them, because of possible contact with patients likely to be carriers of germs, in particular in health establishments, but also to protect patients from nurse-patient contamination. We must not forget that caregivers represent a group at increased risk of influenza infection, ”he emphasizes. He concludes that “the vaccination of caregivers is likely to reduce the mortality and morbidity of the elderly in long-stay services. This proposal therefore deserves to be explored because in all cases, extending the vaccination coverage of caregivers could therefore only be beneficial, if only for a question of exemplarity ”. The Order of Physicians (CNOM) is for its part even clearer. Contacted for Why actor, he said he was in favor of compulsory vaccination for caregivers.
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