Hospitals: in Strasbourg, caregivers divided on the return of their non-vaccinated colleagues

The medical staff who had been suspended, because not vaccinated against Covid-19, will soon be able to return to work, in any case, those who wish. The National Assembly voted, this Thursday, the repeal of the vaccination obligation. A failure for the government: “Conspiracy prevailed over science”, estimates the Minister of Health François Braun. Europe 1 met two employees of the Strasbourg University Hospital: one who had been vaccinated, the other not and was therefore suspended.

“No way to go back”

It has been a year and a half since Carine*, a former medical secretary, was suspended from her post at Strasbourg University Hospital for the simple and good reason that she refused to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Today, even if she has the right, “out of the question” for her to resume her post.

“The words we heard from some colleagues sickened me,” she said at the microphone of Europe 1. For example, I was told: “I hope you’ll catch the Covid and that you will refuse your place in intensive care”. “I don’t see myself working with this person again,” she laughs. For several months, Carine has been training in naturopathy “and there, I will soon be settling in”, rejoices the former medical secretary.

“We really need these people”

Carole* is a nursing assistant. She was vaccinated, not out of conviction, but “out of obligation”, she reports at the microphone of Europe 1. If former suspended colleagues return to their service, she will welcome them without problem.

For her, not everyone will be so conciliatory. “I have already heard colleagues who said ‘I don’t agree at all on the fact that they come back, I had to get vaccinated'”, she says. “Me, it doesn’t bother me. We really need these people,” said Carine, recalling that there is currently a lack of between “200 and 280 nurses” in Strasbourg hospitals.

The management of the hospitals specifies however that the number of people suspended is tiny: they represent only 0.25% of the payroll and most are not caregivers. So their possible return would certainly not solve the latent problem of the lack of personnel.

*Names have been changed