Patrick, Stéphane and Laurent, members of the “Navigants Libres” collective, are pilots and captains respectively. Exceptionally, our guests – Stéphane is present on our set while Laurent and Patrick intervene by videoconference – testify anonymously. “We would all have preferred to testify openly, or even not to have to testify at all (…) We all know that the subject of vaccination and side effects is very sensitive (…) It is a subject which are not discussed in the cockpits to ensure safety. We do it today of our own free will as citizens”, explains Stephane. Since being vaccinated against the coronavirus, our three workers are no longer able to practice their profession following the side effects of the anti-Covid vaccine, which caused the loss of their licenses.
“During the lockdown, the aviation sector “has been on hold, like a brain-dead patient. It was revived with the reopening of the borders through vaccination, which was a miraculous solution for the airline industry and the economy in general (…) Everyone followed, as one man, this godsend, this miracle solution. Unfortunately, after this godsend, came the side effects”, laments Laurent, the captain. Patrick for his part explained that his annual medical examination, compulsory for pilots, was conclusive. “Everything was okay. A month later, I was vaccinated to keep my job as a pilot. Six days later, I had a check-up and they realized that I have a heart problem. For a little over a year now, I have not been able to work. I lost my license and I am stuck at home waiting to be able to find all my skills to fly again”, he laments. Asked about the link between the vaccine and the side effects, Patrick explains that it has “has been reported by the aviation doctor but the problem is that we don’t have a solution for this. Files were made to report it but it remained without follow-up. A legal no man’s”, he regrets. A “double jeopardy” for these seafarers, obliged to be vaccinated in order to work while accepting the risk of suffering “problems on [leur] health”who also lost their jobs: “Who says loss of work says financial loss and we all have families to feed”.
An inevitable vaccination according to Stéphane, who testifies “that we had the feeling that there were higher stakes, which went beyond the air, for vaccination to be applied to us, unilaterally and simultaneously”.