Sur BFMTV Monday 25 July, the minister of Santé François Braun announced the opening of a new vaccination center against the singe variole in Paris, alors that the government is sous le feu des critiques pour lalentur de sa réponse face à the illness. Since the beginning of July, of the 300,000 people eligible for vaccination according to the associations – in particular men who have sex with men or even sex workers – only 6,000 have been vaccinated.
Wanting to be reassuring, François Braun considered it appropriate to specify during the same intervention: “The disease affects a very specific public, a high-risk public. Of course, we are not in an epidemic that spreads to the general population. It is towards public very specific targets on which government action is concentrated.
“We cannot be excluded from the general population”
At Act Up, a historical association for the fight against HIV-AIDS and for the defense of sexual minorities, the minister’s departure was coldly received. “But we are also part of the population in general!” Eva Vocz, director of projects for the association, was outraged.
The latter does not deny the importance of evoking the public most affected by the disease. “At Act Up, we think it’s important to name things, to say that it’s men who have sex with men, sex workers, transgender people who are affected,” continues Eva Vocz. .
“But we cannot be excluded from the ‘general population’. From the ‘general population’ will he not then transmit the disease to his wife, for example?” he concludes.
A statement shared by Matthieu Gatipon-Bachette, spokesman for the inter-LGBT, who on BFMTV this Tuesday the government to “address the entire population” in the face of an “epidemic that will spread”.
Act Up’s reaction to François Braun’s statements illustrates the fear that is shaking human rights associations and health professionals, in relation to a resurgence of stigmatization against LGBTQ people, in the midst of the smallpox epidemic of the bow.
Normally originating in Africa, the disease has been spreading in Europe since May. According to the latest figures released by Santé Publique France, which listed 1,567 confirmed cases in the territory as of July 21, “in France, 96% of cases in which sexual orientation is indicated occurred in men who have sex with men.” . A finding confirmed by a recent study of the The New England Journal of Medicinewhich adds that most of the contamination occurs during sexual intercourse.
“If it affects children, we are screwed”
In a community still traumatized by the HIV-AIDS epidemic, presented at the time as a “gay cancer” or a “divine punishment”, the fear of being marginalized from society or singled out for a public health problem is still alive. The frustration is greater than men ayant des relations sexuelles avec des hommes ainsi que les travailleurs et travailleuses du sexe sont plus que désireux de se faire vacciner, in temoigne l’immense difficulté que rencontrent les publics eligibles pour obtain a rendez -you.
Benjamin Davido, an infectious disease specialist at the Raymond-Poincaré hospital in Garches, tries as best he can to vaccinate the concerned people who come to his service. “My patients are afraid. They say to themselves: ‘if the epidemic continues to advance and affects children more, we are screwed, they will point the finger at us even more,’” he tells BFMTV.com.
Given the delay in the start of vaccination, an expansion of the epidemic currently seems inevitable. France has, according to the latest figures, only 30,000 doses of smallpox vaccines, while the eligible public is around 300,000 people according to the associations.
Fear for young gays
And in the face of a particularly invasive disease, characterized by impressive pimples and requiring a long period of isolation, we care about the little ones, who still live with their parents.
“We fear for the young people. Those who live with LGBTIphobic parents and who are sometimes not aware of their children’s sexual orientation. The disease is seen, requires isolation. We are afraid of a resurgence of homophobic acts in these families, or even at school”, emphasizes Eva Vocz of Act Up.
In passing, the young woman underlines what she considers the hypocrisy of the political class, which is characterized with some rare exceptions for his vigilance against this disease. “When it came to reacting to Caroline Cayeux’s homophobic comments, everyone wanted to talk. While on monkeypox, which mainly affects minorities, there is no one”, she despairs.
Source: BFM TV
