French President Emmanuel Macron has told his citizens that they’ll need to be vaccinated to visit public places such as restaurants and use public transportation. Also, all health workers face mandatory COVID-19 jabs.
Macron opened his address to the nation on Monday on a positive note. He stated that France’s daily COVID-19 infection rate has dropped dramatically, and that a robust economic recovery is underway. He claimed the economic growth was at six percent, and the unemployment rate was improving. Macron boasted that French schools were under lockdown for only 12 weeks, whereas in the United States and Germany, he noted, some schools remained closed for 56 weeks.
“But as a nation, we’re trying to seek a balance between security and freedom,” said French president, “This is why we chose to protect life without closing down our country. And we have been able to keep the situation in check.”
But the situation is deteriorating, Macron continued, and said the country is facing another spike in the “crisis.” He warned that the new strain of COVID-19, the “Delta” variant, is spreading around the world “because it is three times more contagious than the previous strains.” Showing the projection of the “Delta” spread, Macron said that many countries are going back into lockdowns because of it. “In the time being, in France, things are under control, but if we do not act today, the number of cases will continue to increase, and will lead to more people being sent to hospitals.”
Macron went on to state that since the strain is “much different” from what the country has dealt with, new measures to address it need to be implemented. The solution Macron proposed was based on the vaccine’s “high level of effectiveness” in protecting people against the virus.
“We need to have faith and trust in science, progress, and reason,” the French leader insisted, adding that the country needs to strive to get “near 100 percent” of the population inoculated.
Macron ignored the science behind the virus mutations that found that when a virus mutates to be more contagious, it also becomes less deadly. Vaccinating an entire population also seems like an unreasonable goal since the existence of a herd immunity, that is based on a proportion of people with natural antibodies that are believed to create a life-long immunity, and those acquired thanks to vaccines.
Macron announced that the COVID-19 vaccination will now be mandatory for all doctors, nurses and caregivers, who take care of people with health conditions or those considered “vulnerable.” Macron urged them to be inoculated by September 15, after which they could face potential sanctions or fines. Following Macron’s announcement, France’s health minister, Olivier Véran, said that unvaccinated health workers won’t receive a salary nor be allowed to work after September 15, according to France 24.
Macron also said that a “health pass” — aka a vaccine passport — required to attend large-scale events would now be used much more widely, including to enter restaurants, cinemas, shopping malls, and theaters. It will also be required to board trains, buses, and planes from the beginning of August.
COVID-19 vaccinations for the general population will not be mandatory in the near future, but Macron did not take the option off the table. If inoculation rates do not pick up, the president warned that he will “ask the question of compulsory vaccination for all French people.”
Additionally, while a negative PCR test will be sufficient for obtaining a “health pass,” Macron said that the government will no longer hand out free COVID tests from autumn onwards.
Soon after the president’s address, France’s online health portal, doctolib.fr, crashed because of too many people trying to book vaccination appointments.
Stanislas Niox-Chateau, who heads Doctolib, one of the country’s biggest online websites used to book vaccine appointments, said there were record numbers seeking vaccines after the president’s announcement.
Around 36 percent of France’s 67 million people have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, but the number of new coronavirus cases has been rising steadily since the beginning of July.
At the same time, 58 percent of the French population are skeptical of getting the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a March survey by the Odoxa polling group and Le Figaro newspaper.
Politico reports that France has a unique history of vaccine hesitancy, borne out of a series of mismanaged and bungled medical events. The government’s failure to communicate clearly “led to an erosion of trust” in vaccinations, and a broader mistrust “in general” of French authorities and politicians, Emilie Karafillakis, head of European research for the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said.
Now, France, which once gave humanity the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which is regarded as a foundational document of both classical liberalism and human rights, requires its citizens to show their papers to go to a café or ride a bus.
