France gets the jab as flu vaccination starts

The campaign to vaccinate France's population against "swine flu" (H1N1 or influenza A as it's more commonly called here) began on Tuesday.

And first in line to be injected are the one million or so health professionals working in hospitals.

They've been given priority in the government's campaign, but from the evidence of the reports carried on both the country's major television prime time news broadcasts in the evening, they (the medical professionals) were hardly queuing around the block in anticipation.

In fact as the health minister, Roselyne Bachelot, pitched up at the Necker hospital in Paris to launch the campaign, just 20 doctors and nurses were waiting to be vaccinated - sorely outnumbered by the camera crews and photographers on hand to record and report the event.

The problem it appears is that many of them are sceptical of the vaccine's efficacy and wary of the potential side effects.

Bachelot though was on hand to put an upbeat spin on things, emphasising the importance of getting vaccinated and rejecting contradictory reports from some experts who've questioned the benefits of the vaccine, the speed with which it has been produced and its possible side effects.


Moreover she was adamant that hospital workers had an obligation to both themselves and patients to be vaccinated.

"Medical professionals are indispensable for looking after the sick and therefore it's necessary to protect them to be able to preserve our health service which could be put under pressure if the epidemic intensifies," she said.

"Doctors and nurses are in close contact with those among us who are most susceptible to infection so getting vaccinated is an act of responsibility to oneself and to others," she added.

The message is having a hard time getting across not just to those working in hospitals but also to the public at large it seems.

The French remain largely reticent with recent polls showing that between 60 and 65 per cent of them have no intention of getting themselves inoculated when the vaccine becomes available to the general public at the beginning of November.

And they're hardly helped by family doctors either, just over half of whom have said they won't be heeding the call to turn up at one of the 3,000 centres specially set up to administer the vaccine.

Although only anecdotal a couple of weeks ago this particular resident was presented with the dilemma most of us are likely to face at the beginning of November.

It happened while he was getting his annual jab against seasonal flu from his GP and inevitably the conversation turned towards H1N1.

"So will you be going along to one of the centres to get vaccinated?" he asked his doctor.

"No," came the simple reply. "And nor will any of my colleagues."

If those who are supposed to know about the benefits of the vaccine can't agree among themselves, how are the rest of us supposed to make an informed decision?