Prime Minister Jean Castex defended the president who said he wanted to “piss off the unvaccinated”, supporting “perfectly coherent” remarks
Prime Minister Jean Castex welcomed Thursday morning to adoption by the National Assembly of the vaccination pass. “It’s a good thing for France,” he said on RMC / BFMTV. “We hope for an entry into force on January 15,” he assures us, recalling “that it must now pass to the Senate and that it be examined as quickly as possible”. Jean Castex explained that this vaccination pass “is not limited in time” because “the health situation is very worrying”.
“Nobody is going to piss anyone off”
Concretely, this pass will prevent all unvaccinated people from accessing certain public places. “Even if a person tests negative but is not vaccinated, he will not be able to take the train,” said the minister. For people tested positive but who have a complete vaccination schedule, “I cancel taking the TGV,” he adds, without specifying whether sanctions are planned for these specific cases. “The objective is to encourage vaccination and put constraints on the unvaccinated”, he insisted. This pass will be necessary from the age of 16, because it is “a kind of vaccination majority”.
Asked about compulsory vaccination, set up in Italy for over 50s, Jean Castex again declared himself opposed. “These countries did so because they had very, very low vaccination rates”, recalling that this is not the case for France. “In these countries there will be a fine. But how do we control that? We already have difficulties in controlling the health pass, we would have even more difficulties in controlling the vaccination obligation, ”replied the Prime Minister. He assures us that the “security forces will strengthen controls”. “If we behave as citizens, no one is going to piss anyone off,” he added, with reference to about Emmanuel Macron.
Mask for teachers
The Prime Minister said he was in favor of a 4th dose of vaccine, taking the example of Israel. “The Israelis did it after advice from their health authorities […]. As soon as our health authorities have said yes, probably for the most fragile people, if we are told ‘we are going’, we will go. “
Asked about schools, Jean Castex also announced that the government will provide masks to all teachers. “The virus is galloping. For kindergartens, there is no mask, […] With the Minister of National Education, we will provide all teaching staff with surgical masks, ”explains Jean Castex. This distribution will be done “by the end of the month”.
“The unvaccinated remain citizens”
After the controversial remarks Emmanuel Macron claiming to want to “piss off the unvaccinated”, Jean Castex defended the president. “Would you have preferred him to congratulate them?” I think what you just read there (the full quote) makes perfect sense. We want to put more and more pressure on the unvaccinated. You see admirable and exhausted caregivers in hospitals, with unvaccinated people in intensive care, ”he replied.
“Let’s not play on words. The unvaccinated obviously remain citizens. When you are a citizen, you have rights and duties, that’s called civility and a sense of responsibility, ”said the Prime Minister, responding to the sentence“ an irresponsible person is no longer a citizen ”, pronounced by Emmanuel Macron. “The President of the Republic can also sometimes say aloud what a lot of people think softly. There are soon 92% of our citizens who have been towards vaccination. It is the collective interest of our country. […] We are in society, we must be united. “