The device to force people not vaccinated against Covid-19 to resolve to the injection is hardening. The health pass will become, at the start of 2022, a “Vaccine pass”, announced the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, Friday, December 17, at the end of a health defense council, specifying that a bill in this direction would be submitted to Parliament in early January 2022. Prior consultation on this project legislative and on “Any other useful provision to extend vaccination as much as possible” is due to start next week.
The measure was taken as the country is undergoing a fifth wave of magnitude and the threat of a progression of the highly transmissible Omicron variant is becoming clearer. By establishing a vaccination pass, the government has not gone so far as to require vaccination, which Emmanuel Macron had committed not to introduce, but it is coming very close to it.
Once the text of the law has been voted, only vaccinated people will be able to access places of leisure, culture, or restaurants. A simple negative test will no longer allow it. Since November 29, the period of validity of these tests had been reduced from 72 to 24 hours. Since October 15, free tests for unvaccinated people had been ended.
“This confirms a vaccination obligation”
“It is not admissible that the refusal of a few million French people to be vaccinated puts the life of an entire country at risk and undermines the daily lives of a vast majority of French people who have played along since the start of this crisis. “, defended the Prime Minister. “We assume to put the strain on the unvaccinated, because the critical care and resuscitation services of our hospitals are filled, for the most part, with unvaccinated people”, he added, while nearly 3,000 patients with Covid-19 were in critical care on Friday.
“The government is afraid to use the word, but this confirms a vaccination obligation”, greets Yves Buisson, member of the Academy of Medicine, who has long been in favor of this measure. On the other hand, the professor is already questioning the perimeter of the future pass: “For the moment, its field is insufficient, it must concern all the places of regrouping, the work, the school, the university… he judges. Otherwise, the impact may be limited at the epidemiological level. “
According to the latest figures from the Directorate General of Health dated December 12, 5.7 million people eligible for vaccination have not received any dose, when more than 90% of the eligible population is vaccinated at least one injection. Among those over 65, more than a million people remain unvaccinated.
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