“I did the con”: the poignant testimony of a former unvaccinated in Les Grandes Gueules

“I played the fool”, declared this Wednesday morning Francis Palombi on the air Big Mouths. A few months ago, the President of the Federation of French Traders was affected by Covid-19. The businessman was suffering severe enough symptoms to be placed in intensive care. If he encouraged the French to be vaccinated, he preferred to pass his turn; he regrets it today. At a time when the epidemic is panicking with the Omicron variant and when a new contamination record has been broken in 24 hours in France (with nearly 180,000 cases), Francis Palombi decided to mobilize. Favorable to the vaccination pass, he encourages the French to be vaccinated and for that, he tells his own story.

“I was afraid of the vaccination”

“I had a personal, deep conviction (…) I had not been vaccinated and I never said it. I did not put on a show on my personal cause, I have a public action, I defend independent traders. If they don’t have clients, if we’re confined, they go bankrupt. I always had a speech: ‘Get vaccinated, respect the barrier measures’“, explained Francis Palombi. “I was afraid of the vaccination. I imagined that I would be injected into my body something foreign, which would disrupt my continuation of life “, he clarified. A decision he regrets today.

Francis Palombi responds to critics

“It was when I arrived in sheave that I said to myself: ‘Francis, you played the fool, you have to get vaccinated’ (…) Me, personally, I thought maybe I was above certain medical rules (…) I become a pro-vax, if my example can save lives, so much the better“, added Francis Palombi. In recent months, he has had to suffer the lightning strike of Internet users who accused him of staging his illness. His interview with BFMTV, from his hospital bed, had been particularly criticized. “It still shook me because social networks can challenge someone’s honesty”, said the defender on the set of RMC Story.