Status: 07/26/2021 3:18 a.m.
Despite the mass protests over the weekend, France’s National Assembly has the government’s corona plans
approved. The new law provides for mandatory vaccination for health and care workers. A health pass will also be introduced.
In France, the parliament passed the law creating compulsory vaccinations for health care workers and extending the so-called health passport. The text was approved by the National Assembly with 156 votes in favor, 60 against and 14 abstentions.
The Senate had already approved the law before the National Assembly. The final version of the legal text had been struggled for days. After a series of changes to the original bill, MPs and senators finally agreed on a compromise text after a four-hour session. President Emmanuel Macron announced the tightened measures in mid-July.
The government wants to curb the massive increase in corona infections caused by the highly contagious Delta variant. The law that has now been passed provides for a corona vaccination for health and care workers as well as firefighters and other rescue workers. Contrary to what the government has suggested, vaccination refusals in these professions are not threatened with dismissal, only a suspension of their salary.
Slogans against Macron
With the expansion of the health passport, which provides information about a vaccination or a negative test, a corona test obligation for non-immunized people in French restaurants and long-distance trains should apply for the first time from August. In cinemas, theaters or museums, a vaccination, a survived infection or a negative corona test must be proven since Wednesday.
More than 160,000 people protested against the stricter rules in France on Saturday. In Paris, the demonstrators chanted, among other things, “freedom, freedom” and called for the overthrow of President Macron, whom they described as a “tyrant”.
No majority for opponents
However, the demonstrators do not represent the majority of the population: In a survey by the Elabe Institute for the broadcaster BFMTV on July 13, 76 percent of the French spoke out in favor of compulsory vaccination for health workers. The expansion of the health pass also met with a majority of approval.