Despite the end of the obligation, many unvaccinated caregivers have not returned to their jobs


Market seller, specialist in well-being care, accumulation of odd jobs: many caregivers suspended for their refusal to be vaccinated against Covid-19 have converted (AFP/Archives/STEPHANE DANNA)

Salesman in the markets, specialist in well-being care, accumulation of odd jobs … Many caregivers suspended for their refusal to be vaccinated against Covid-19 have converted and have not returned to work in the hospital as they had the opportunity in recent weeks.

Away from their jobs for 20 months, with no income, all had to reorient themselves, at least temporarily, and in the end few of them returned to their former functions.

Elodie Schlernitzauer, 36, nursing assistant in Strasbourg, suspended in September 2021, is one of these many converted.

In a dedicated room in her house, she now offers beauty and well-being treatments. Always decked out in a white coat…

“It’s not exactly the same, it has pimples, it’s a little prettier. It looks a little less like pajamas, but it’s still white,” she smiles as she massages a client’s face.

Today, graduated in maderotherapy (massage technique with wooden instruments), eyelash care, lymphatic drainage and baby massage, she “takes care of people” as she sees fit.

– “Devastated” –

The 30-year-old, suspended in September 2021, assures “not to be against the vaccine” but she did not want to be vaccinated at this time.

“With my spouse, we have had a baby project for a few years but we can’t get there. We were going to start a battery of tests at the end of 2021 and my gynecologist advised me against the vaccine at that time”, explains the young woman. , still not vaccinated.

She did try to convince her superiors, but “there were no exceptions, I was devastated. We really wanted to wait for this project to work and then get vaccinated”, confides the young woman with tears in her eye. woman, still hoping to procreate.

Infected by the virus in March 2022, she did not wish to return despite her recovery certificate. Very quickly, Elodie Schlernitzauer, a caregiver for 12 years, understood that she would not return to work at the hospital.

“Financially I have the same salary as before, with less gas costs and the possibility of doing my planning. I’m lucky, it works very well and I’m very proud of it”, underlines the young woman.

A stretcher bearer in an emergency room at the Bichat hospital in Paris, July 27, 2017

A stretcher-bearer in an emergency corridor at Bichat hospital in Paris, July 27, 2017 (AFP/Archives/FRANCOIS GUILLOT)

Stéphane Escafit, 46, hesitated until the last moment to resume his position as stretcher-bearer. Converted to the Strasbourg markets, where he sells sausages and charcuterie from the South-West, he was one of the few non-vaccinated members of his team.

“It is a vaccine which was in the experimental phase, which came very quickly, I did not have confidence”, justifies this father of two children.

His suspension left him with a bitter taste: “What annoyed me was that when everyone was confined, we were supposedly heroes and overnight we found ourselves like plague victims”.

– “Twinge” –

In mid-May, he put his overalls back on and went back to the hospital… where he finally asked for his leave on the same day in order to continue in his new activity on the markets, even if the salary is a little less attractive. Stéphane Escafit indeed fears being suspended again in the event of the return of the Covid-19.

“The vaccination obligation has not been repealed, so if I resume my activity, there is no proof that I will not find myself suspended again in six or seven months”, he fears. The government indeed keeps the possibility of suspending again, by a new decree, the non-vaccinated if the pandemic starts again.

It is therefore with a “small pinch in the heart” that he moves away from this profession, exercised for 17 years, to devote himself fully to his new activity as a trader: “Back on the markets on Saturday morning, I have plenty patients… uh, lots of clients waiting for me”.

Eric Mercier, 52, a nurse in a private establishment in Pays de la Loire, is one of the few to have returned to work. Since the vaccination obligation imposed on caregivers at the end of 2021, he had to combine jobs to make ends meet. He thus worked in the food industry, the construction industry, or was even a forklift driver, “with the fear of bailiffs and of not having a job for the next day”.

The 50-year-old assures that there were no cross looks from his colleagues for his return, even if “there will certainly be some”. “But I come back with my head held high, I always wanted to treat, I had been robbed of my dream job”.

© 2023 AFP

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