The Fismes hospital center, in Marne, had the idea of offering a lottery ticket to anyone who comes to be vaccinated against flu or covid. The prize is a basket worth 100 euros. This was all it took to cause controversy, particularly in far-right anti-vaccine circles.
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“Double your chances for the draw by taking advantage of a double vaccination against flu and covid 19”. The proposal seems preposterous, and yet it was clearly written in white on blue on a poster published by the Fismes hospital center in Marne.
Indeed, dn the framework of the vaccination campaign against flu and covid19 for the most vulnerable people, the hospital launched a “golden syringe competition”. For a vaccination in the establishment, the patient could receive a lottery ticket which, after drawing lots, allowed them to win a basket filled with pink biscuits from Reims worth 100 euros.
To encourage vaccination against covid, the Fismes hospital center in Marne had the idea of organizing a “Golden Syringe Competition”
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© CH de Fismes
For some residents of Fismes, this communication campaign is incomprehensible. “C“is blackmail”, analyzes this Fismoise. Another to add: “I don’t see the connection between a carrot, like this, and a vaccine.” As for the village pharmacist, Cindy Mazzini, she considers that“we can't play with people's health and it's up to us [les professionnels de santé, NDLR]to do what is necessary and to convince people so that they get the best treatment, and for this we do not need to offer gifts.
As for the political reactions, it was enough to alert the former anti-vax RN European MP Virginie Joron. The candidate for the legislative elections of the 2e Bas-Rhin constituency denounced this vaccination competition on X, formerly Twitter network. A post taken up by a large part of the French anti-vax sphere in the last 48 hours.
So was the approach of the Fismes hospital counterproductive, mobilizing the anti-vax community in a disproportionate way? In a press release, the establishment wanted to clarify its intention: “Faced with a significant drop in the vaccination coverage rate at the national level as well as within the establishment, we can read in the document, the Fismes Hospital Center has decided to mobilize to raise awareness of the issues of vaccination in order to to protect the most vulnerable patients”.
The Fismes hospital center, in Marne.
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© France televisions / Claudine Crenn
A team made up of practitioners, healthcare executives and nurses was therefore put together to “develop an original communication” on the subject. And the establishment adds: “The objective was to mobilize as many people as possible around an essential subject, by highlighting the importance of vaccination.”
The Fismes CH wishes to emphasize that this initiative was part of an approach that respects the importance of vaccination.
Press release from the Fismes hospital center
Despite everything, the establishment, while pleading good will to put the most fragile patients back on the path to their own protection, also admits “that this approach may have been surprising and that it is inappropriate”. He therefore suspends the competition while specifying that the vaccination campaign continues.
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