France gears up for H1N1 vaccination of military personnel

French Gendarmes. Photo: David Monniaux, wikipedia

French press are carrying reports and editorials about potential unrest over the nation's H1N1 vaccination program. There is growing discord between anti- and pro-vaccination factions, as well as a growing sentiment to forgo the vaccinations. Official versions of how French defense and police forces will implement H1N1 vaccination of their own personnel range from transparent to ambiguous to contradictory, according to information and documents obtained from the French interior ministry by Flesh & Stone writer Michael Cosgrove.

Recent developments in H1N1-related issues here in France, such as lawsuits claiming that widespread vaccination represents an organized attempt at poisoning, a rise in declared infection and death rates of 55 percent in the last week, and the fact that over 80 percent of French people have declared  that they “will not” or “probably will not” get vaccinated, have led to sharpened debate and redoubled efforts by the government and health authorities to try and persuade people to change their minds.

And, in a more ominous development, the French press is now beginning to carry editorials and interviews which evoke the possibility of civil unrest in the event of a serious and deadly upsurge in infection and death rates. Much of that speculation evokes the eventuality of conflict between vaccinated and non-vaccinated people over responsibility for the spread of H1N1.

This climate is provoking an increasing interest in defense ministry plans for the vaccination of its personnel.

Interviewed by Flesh & Stone on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue in France at this time, a French army officer and defense ministry attaché with first-hand knowledge of the armed forces’ H1N1 vaccination policy stated:

“We strongly recommend that our personnel should volunteer to be vaccinated and we actively encourage that. We are making that very clear, and we are reminding our personnel that H1N1 vaccination is coherent with the professional engagement undertaken by them when they join the military, which is to serve the interests of their country first and foremost. Doubts concerning the vaccine’s safety and efficiency appear to be much less widespread in the military than they are reported to be in the population at large.

“There is no mandatory obligation to get vaccinated. That is not permitted by French law. We are simply reminding personnel of their personal duty to do everything possible to be able to defend the country’s interests, and that includes not being infected by H1N1. Vaccinations will be carried out within the military structure, and they will coincide with the beginning of the vaccination campaign for the civilian population.

“The possibility of civil unrest? We are aware of that of course, but that is not the primary concern of French military forces, who are not mandated to intervene directly in incidents involving civil crowd disorder in peacetime. That is the job of the police and the gendarmerie. That said, we always maintain an observational presence in such circumstances.”

French defense minister Hervé Morin has also outlined French military preparations for H1N1, most notably in a statement in which he detailed France’s plans for the protection of personnel deployed on current exterior operations, such as those in Afghanistan, Lebanon and on the African continent.

“All military personnel in foreign operational theatres have received enough masks and Tamiflu to guarantee two months protection,” he said, adding that approximately 130,000 of the 230,000 civilian and military defense personnel in France “will be vaccinated” as well as “the 100,000 gendarmes who are responsible for routine public security.”

He did not, however, explain how he was able to announce those vaccination figures in such precise terms, given that vaccination is theoretically a personal choice. That has led to speculation that vaccination may be being made obligatory for Gendarmes.

However, no evidence exists at this time to indicate that the French army, navy or air force are in the process of implementing a mandatory vaccination policy.

The same cannot be said for the French Gendarmerie police however, and efforts to obtain details of the Gendarmerie’s plans proved to be more difficult.

Documents from the French interior ministry concerning the vaccination of Gendarmerie personnel are said to have been leaked by a serving gendarme and sent to a legal expert with first-hand knowledge of the Gendarmerie. The expert, contacted by Flesh & Stone, states that they are unchanged originals, except for the obliteration of certain handwritten administrative annotations which could compromise the gendarme concerned.

Those documents specifically concern Gendarmerie personnel only, and they are being interpreted by some gendarmes as saying that active service police elements within the Gendarmerie may become subject to mandatory vaccination once their vaccination program begins. They have become the subject of much debate on Gendarmerie-related internet sites and forums.

Details are included in this page:

The first few lines state:

“I – Personnel Concerned

11 – Vaccination of active and civilian personnel serving in the gendarmerie

The vaccination of civil and active military gendarmerie personnel will be carried out by army health services by their attached medical service unit.

The vaccination campaign against A(H1N1) flu will be included in the armed forces vaccination schedule, to which gendarmerie military personnel are required (or ‘obliged’) to submit themselves.”

Elsewhere in the documents can be read the re-affirmation that “All gendarmerie military and civilian personnel will be vaccinated at the Medical Service Unit to which they are attached” and added that gendarmes attached to the defense ministry or on active service overseas would follow other dispositions. (Documents from the French interior ministry, page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4, page 5)

Family members of Gendarmerie personnel are instructed to get vaccinated in accordance with the dispositions applicable to the general public and not the Gendarmerie.

Nowhere do the documents state that vaccination is facultative or voluntary.

A Gendarmerie spokesman for one of the country’s regional forces -- who would not give his name -- informed us that he could not discuss the documents and recommended that all enquiries be directed to the Service d’Informations et Relations Publiques des Armées (SIRPA) which is the French military’s public relations branch.

He added that the Gendarmerie’s plans were the same as those for the army, navy and air force. That statement appears to be in contradiction with some of the information contained in the leaked documents in the context of the information given by the armed forces spokesman quoted above.

Concerning the Police Nationale, a press officer contacted by telephone and who identified himself as “Mr Curpin” told Flesh & Stone that, unlike the Gendarmerie, there were no formal instructions concerning H1N1 vaccination of the force, and that it was not mandatory. He added that opinion within the force seemed to be divided on the issue, with roughly half of all police officers saying they did not want be vaccinated.

A subsequent request for more detailed official information was met with the request that further enquiries be directed to the defense ministry.

The principal elements of France’s armed forces – army, navy and air force – are overseen by the French defense ministry and other government agencies, with the ultimate decision-making responsibility for their deployment and use remaining in the hands of the president.

France also has two police forces, the Gendarmerie and the Police Nationale, and they, too, are under defense ministry orders, although in slightly different ways.

The Gendarmerie is responsible for policing countryside and outer-city populations and is a bona-fide national defense force under the direct control of the defense ministry, whereas the Police Nationale, responsible for law and order in towns and cities, is a civil police force, although it ultimately comes under defense ministry control, too.

Flesh & Stone expects to receive more information on the subject of military vaccination policies shortly, and will publish it when it becomes available.