Sébastien Lecornu, Minister of Overseas Territories, was the guest of “8:30 am franceinfo”, Thursday, September 28, 2021. Referendum in New Caledonia, Covid-19 in Martinique … He answers questions from Marc Fauvelle and Salhia Brakhlia.
Martinique University Hospital, a “tolerance” on the delay of the vaccination obligation
The vaccination obligation for caregivers applies well “in all the territories of the Republic”, therefore at the Martinique University Hospital, affirms Sébastien Lecornu, after the outbreak of a controversy, following the leak of an internal information note, on October 20. In it, the management of the establishment announces that “all staff” of the CHU of Fort-de-France “will be able to enter their service” with or without health pass. Those who are not vaccinated “are invited to take a screening test “. “The director of the hospital unfortunately had this unfortunate position”, deplores the Minister of Overseas, who wishes to support him, while he is targeted by death threats.
Sébastien Lecornu recognizes however “a tolerance on time, the deadline to fulfill this vaccination obligation” which is explained by the spread of the virus, still important in the Overseas Territories. In this tense health context, “There is no question of closing a number of hospital services because the caregivers are not vaccinated.”
New Caledonia: “Too early” to say if the referendum will take place on December 12
“It is too early to have a detailed sanitary projection which will allow us to establish whether [la date] of December 12 may or may not be maintained “, declares Sébastien Lecornu, about the referendum on independence in New Caledonia. “We will be able to establish whether or not we can maintain it on December 12 on health criteria”, he insists, not on political demands, specifying that the incidence rate has “considerably decreased in the last 15 days”.
“In a democracy, we keep our elections on time, the principle is that it takes place on December 12, the exception is that it must be postponed”, says Sébastien Lecornu. The Minister of Overseas Territories called “independence families” To “not to deviate from this single health barometer”. “The referendum must be organized because it has been requested”, he adds. “We cannot, because one of the two camps demands it, change the date on a piece of the table”, continues the minister. “It must be objectified for good reasons. It is an extraordinary process of decolonization, in the legal sense of the term, framed by the United Nations, we do not change the date like that”, insists Sébastien Lecornu.
Find the entire “8h30 franceinfo” of Thursday, September 28, 2021: