Unvaccinated health care workers face suspension

Health care workers in France faced suspension from their jobs starting Wednesday if they haven’t been vaccinated against COVID-19. With as many as 300,000 workers still not vaccinated, some hospitals fear staff shortages.

Vaccines are now compulsory for medical care, home care and emergency workers in France, and Wednesday was the deadline for such staff to have had at least one shot. Failing that, they face pay being suspended or not being able to work. But a top court has forbidden staff to be fired outright.

The mandate was approved by France’s parliament over the summer to protect patients and the public from new surges of COVID19. More than 113,000 people with the virus have died in France, and health authorities say most of those hospitalized in the most recent surge weren’t vaccinated.

“It’s aimed at one thing: protecting hospitals, protecting health care workers, protecting our fragile populations,” government spokesman Gabriel Attal said Wednesday. “We are not stigmatizing anyone. We are making everyone take responsibility.”

More than 90% of French health

care workers are vaccinated, Attal said, and polls suggest most people support the vaccine mandate for medical staff. The government health authority said Tuesday that means about 300,000 health workers remained unvaccinated.

While 83% of French adults are fully vaccinated, a small, vocal minority of people are opposed to the coronavirus vaccines, including some health care workers.

Many cite incorrect information about the vaccines circulating online, worry about their longterm effects or want more time to decide. Others are angry at President Emmanuel Macron’s government and the mandate, not the vaccines themselves.

Since some hospitals are already facing strains after a year and half of fighting the pandemic and catching up on other treatments, some who oppose the vaccine requirement fear staff shortages could spell disaster.

If health care workers have had only one dose so far, they have to take a virus test every three days until they have completed the second one. Oct. 15 is the legal deadline for both vaccines to have been completed.

Employers failing to verify the vaccination statuses of their staff are liable for a $160 fine that can rise to $4,430 for repeated failure.

FRANCOIS MORI/AP A medical worker joins a protest Tuesday outside the Health Ministry in Paris against a law requiring them to get vaccinated or risk suspension. The law is aimed at protecting patients from new COVID-19 surges.