The anti-vax sphere did not wait to gargle about it. “I thought it was a Gorafi joke (a parody news site) but no, it’s in 2024 in Marne in the Grand Est Region,” National Rally MEP Virginie Joron wrote on Saturday on her various social networks, sharing a poster of a “golden syringe competition” . Organized at the Fismes hospital center, this would consist of winning a Fossier garnished basket (a biscuit factory in Reims) of 100 euros to a person being vaccinated against Covid and/or the flu, after a draw.
This poster caused a lot of reactions, some to blithely mock it, others to question its veracity. Internet users have also pointed out graphic inconsistencies in the visual. “Several elements present in the image allow us to conclude that it is a false poster,” one of them even concluded.
Virginie Joron herself did not seem entirely convinced. “Obviously this poster sparks a lot of comments. Fake or not fake, everything is so ludicrous,” she wrote on Sunday, claiming to have received it from “a hospital executive at this center.”
And yet, this competition is true. Contacted, the Fismes hospital center referred us to the Reims University Hospital, which takes care of press relations for the two hospitals. This tells us that the Fismes establishment wanted to “mobilize to raise awareness of the issues of vaccination in order to protect the most vulnerable patients” by developing an “original communication”. And this, in a context where flu and flu vaccination coverage could decrease compared to last year.
“The objective was to mobilize as many people as possible around an essential subject, by highlighting the importance of vaccination”, adds the hospital, insisting on the fact that “this initiative was part of a respectful approach of the importance of vaccination.
If the original reasons were perfectly legitimate, the form “may have surprised” and it is “inappropriate”, recognizes the hospital. Thus, while the vaccination campaign continues its course, communication around this competition is “suspended”.
