When an unexpected outbreak of COVID-19 in a nursing home in the Landes region of France led to two deaths last month, the media and the government seized upon a surprising fact: Only 60 percent of care home staff were vaccinated, even though they had had access to coronavirus jabs for months.
French Health Minister Olivier Véran immediately blamed the infections on a non-vaccinated caregiver despite the fact that the cluster’s origin couldn't be confirmed. But he also unleashed a broader debate: What to do with health and social care workers who reject the jab — and whether mandatory vaccination is the answer.