Now or never!

Friends, good morning.

This message is for everyone!

Professionals in health care and in the professions of intervention with people, in the « front line » since always, in practically unbearable working conditions since now almost two full years!

Firemen, ambulance drivers, police officers as well. Nurses, caregivers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, physicians and specialists.

All are concerned. From very, very close or according to what could falsely appear as a certain distance. And it is impossible to name everyone.

But this message is also for everyone!

Because we are all concerned!

In a very short time, the exact date has not yet been communicated, the draft law on mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 for health care professionals will be submitted to a vote. A circular was also issued reminding that under the May 10, 2015 law on the registration of ambulance drivers and firefighters as licensed personnel, they legally fall into the same category as « health care personnel » and therefore will also be subject to this law. So will self-employed health care workers, private practices and home care services.

This is a serious time! Every moment is precious. 

Because if this draft bill is approved by our government, there will be no turning back!

The question is not whether we are « for or against » the principle of vaccination, applied in this case to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even less to decide if the currently available vaccines are effective or not to stop this pandemic, harmless or not for the whole population, in an acceptable proportion compared to their effectiveness.

Because we must be well aware of one fact!

After almost two years of media hype, of insistent invitations, of incitements having gone as far as the implementation of discriminatory measures, not in their principle but in the way they are applied, by creating from scratch a difference in treatment between two groups for which it has been shown that this distinction has no proven scientific basis (the CST has been accompanied, since we have the proof, by an obligation to test, including for vaccinated persons!… it was time, but « the damage is done ») and after having provoked and encouraged the stigmatization of « this part of the population », the people who have refused this injection until now will not change their mind!

Some will of course, against their will, comply with an obligation. In order not to lose their income, since that is what it is all about. In order not to lose the right to practice a profession they have chosen, for which they have studied for several years, for which they have devoted themselves body and soul, in particular for the last two years, but already before that, in spite of the pressure that rests on their shoulders, in spite of the arduousness of the work (which is, by the way, still not officially recognized, which in itself is already quite scandalous!), in spite of the workload that rests on each of them, because of a lack of manpower that has only been growing for the last 10 years, at the very least!… and against which none of our governments has taken the slightest effective measure.

These people, people who like all the others in our country, pay their taxes, contribute to a health care system from which we all benefit and in which they play a primordial role, participate in the perpetuation of a pension fund essential to the economic survival of our elders; and I pass by; These people, they were OBLIGED, non-vaccinated as well as vaccinated, without any distinction this time, to ensure their workstation even if they were positive to the PCR test supposed to demonstrate a contamination to the virus responsible for the current pandemic! They were FORCED to assume their functions, in certain cases, even while being sick, « symptomatic » thus, to take again a term « with the mode », until reception of the result of the test and even after, if this one proved to be « COVID-19 negative ». These people were applauded. These people were « our heroes »!

And now the government is threatening to « throw some of them out on the street »? To plunge them and their families into misery by depriving them of their income and the right to practice the profession for which they have devoted themselves so much, in which they have invested so much, for all of us. 

It is urgent to react. 

If this exemplary measure is validated by our government, it will certainly be extended to the entire population in the coming months. With even more dramatic consequences!

Whether we like it or not, whether we support it or not, a part of the population will continue to refuse this vaccine, even if the government makes it mandatory. Whatever our opinion on this subject, it is a simple fact of society!

Some, and there will be many, will persist in evading this obligation.

Are we going to have them locked up?

Are we going to tie them up to « force vaccinate » them?

Are we going to support the fact that through this obligation and the sanctions that will be associated with it in case of « refusal to comply », tens of thousands of families will be plunged into misery and illegality?

Have we learned nothing from our history lessons?

It is also urgent to react immediately, because even if it is not extended to the entire population and even if we refuse to give the slightest consideration to the health care professionals and the professions involved in the intervention with people who would still refuse this vaccine (or an additional dose for those who had not rejected the first two), the consequences of such a measure will be cruelly felt by all of us!

Hospitals that are already understaffed will no longer be able to meet their obligations if a part of their workforce is deprived of its work. It will be impossible for « those who remain » to take on an additional increase in workload. And it is the entire population that will suffer the consequences.

If we let the government pass this law, the ruin of our health care system will be everyone’s responsibility!

This is a serious time!

It is no longer time for a peaceful demonstration. Obviously, a few thousand caregivers and firefighters marching in the streets and waving banners will not be able to change the government’s decision to reject a law that they seem to have already decided to validate!

This is not the time for direct violence either! No overflow!

It is imperative, in the present situation, to control our anger and misunderstanding! Because any violence expressed today in a direct way can and will be used against us!

But it is imperative not to let them!

The time has come to show the government (and by extension, all of society) what the consequences will be!

This message is a call to all health care professionals, to all those involved in the management of life-threatening emergencies, but also to all citizens who are concerned about the seriousness of the current situation and the threat posed by the measures that are about to be voted on by our government.

A call to put yourself massively and from now on under cover of a medical certificate for a duration of two or three weeks minimum!

In the current situation, given the pressure we are all under from all sides, which is only getting worse every day; given the contradictory messages that have been sent to us relentlessly for almost two years; a burn-out or a nervous breakdown will not be difficult to justify. And maybe we could even dream of a chance for it to be recognized as an « occupational disease », in some cases… But a work accident, or failing that a domestic accident will do just as well. Lumbago, epicondylitis, be creative!

If we all follow suit, there will never be enough medical examiners to visit us all! In any case, they can neither examine nor question: they can only verify the presence of the patient at home and possibly a prescription for medication. Only the mutual insurance company, after a full month of incapacity, can legally order a second opinion, calling into question the certificate issued by our treating physician and, by extension, his competence or integrity.

But if we follow the movement en masse, we won’t need a full month. There will be consequences, of course. There will be « collateral damage ». And it is repugnant to me to have to use this term to refer to human lives.

But let’s ask ourselves the only real question that is still worth asking at this point:

Would we rather have to deal with these consequences for a limited period of time, because we reacted so that this law would not pass?

Or to have to accept them with resignation, a little ashamed of not having been able to do anything about it, because the law will be passed?

To your consciences!

Mine is at peace.