The High Authority for Health recommends making annual flu vaccination compulsory for all health professionals, medical and paramedical students as well as staff in medico-social establishments housing the elderly, in a highly anticipated opinion published Monday July 20.
To come into force, this recommendation, which is in the same direction as a report from the Academy of Medicine published in May, must be the subject of a decree in the Council of State specifying its terms and the personnel concerned. At the legislative level, the latest social security financing law, passed in December, provides for compulsory vaccination for self-employed caregivers, subject to an opinion from the HAS to this effect.
In hospitals and nursing homes, anti-flu vaccination was made compulsory for caregivers in 2006 but immediately suspended by decree, before its application, in particular because of “the lack of excess risk demonstrated among caregivers”.
This vaccination obligation recommended by the HAS must be deployed as a priority “in nursing homes and in long-term care units (USLD)” due to the “particular vulnerability” of the people accommodated, three-quarters of whom are aged 75 and over, and in “close, repeated and prolonged contact with caregivers”, says the opinion.
“Progressive deployment”
In other places concerned – health establishments, other medico-social establishments housing elderly people, self-employed structures – the HAS recommends a “gradual deployment over a period of two years renewable for one year, within a concerted framework” (local actors, professionals concerned, etc.), in order to guarantee the feasibility and acceptability of the measure.
The vaccination obligation is justified in view of the “scale of the health burden” of influenza and the “increased risk” of its transmission by professionals to people treated or housed in care and medico-social environments, explains the independent authority, which provides scientific expertise on health to public authorities.
The 2025/26 flu caused 12,700 deaths, compared to 17,900 a year earlier during a particularly violent epidemic. It costs 1 to 2 billion euros and weighs heavily on the healthcare system (hospitalizations, resuscitations, mortality, consultations, caregivers on sick leave, etc.).
For the HAS, the obligation must concern all health professionals, “employees and self-employed”, as well as “other professionals” working in “health and medico-social establishments housing elderly people, in contact with people at risk of severe form (people involved in hygiene care, daily living aids, etc.)”, she specifies.
