The noose is tightening on the unvaccinated. Last Friday, Jean Castex announced the upcoming transformation of the health pass into a vaccine pass. In short: a negative test will no longer suffice to enter places (restaurants, places of culture, trains, etc.) subject to the famous sesame. The Prime Minister received this Tuesday in Matignon the representatives of local elected officials and the presidents of parliamentary groups to discuss the subject.
Faced with the fifth wave of Covid-19 and the surge of the Omicron variant, the government is therefore continuing to accelerate, hoping for the bill to be adopted before mid-January. And in the majority, we assume to put ever greater pressure on people reluctant to vaccination.
“Too bad for the unvaccinated: no museum, no restaurant, no movies”
“We want vaccinated people to be able to live almost normally, this implies that unvaccinated people unfortunately live in near confinement”, summed up Sunday evening on LCI government spokesperson Gabriel Attal. The executive says it wants to avoid new restrictions for the whole country. “The objective is to protect the 90% of the eligible population who have chosen vaccination, even if it means adding pressure to the 10% who have not done so”, assumes LREM deputy Roland Lescure. “Too bad for the unvaccinated. It is up to them to assume the constraints on their personal life: no museum, no restaurant, no cinema, ”adds the spokesperson for En Marche.
Today, more than 51 million people in France have a complete vaccination schedule, or 76% of the total population (20 million have also received a booster dose). And among those previously eligible, about 6 million have not received any dose. “We’re not going to hide behind his little finger. That the unvaccinated, by conspiracy or belief, put themselves in danger of death is one thing. But the problem is that they put everyone in danger by saturating hospital beds and causing operation deprogramming, ”says Bruno Bonnell, LREM deputy from the Rhône. “The government only takes note of what we hear on the ground:” Why would 10% of the population hold the rest of the country hostage? ” “.
“Are we going to continue to pay for the care of idiots who do not believe in the vaccine?” “
The executive’s strategy is clear: polarize the debate. At the risk of dividing the French? “We put pressure on everyone, not just the unvaccinated. Because there is also an issue with the third dose, with barrier gestures, ”relativizes Anne Genetet, Member of Parliament and spokesperson for the LREM group in the Assembly. “We must not oppose one another, but hold a global discourse. Some are vaccine-hesitant, we must not alienate them if we want to be effective ”.
These new announcements, however, led to a slight rebound in anti-pass protests, with 25,500 people pounding the pavement last Saturday, according to authorities. “These people will perhaps become radicalized, but they will especially make fun of themselves, slice François Patriat. Vaccination is a health and civic act. There is now a form of general fatigue in public opinion, which asks itself: “Are we going to continue to live like this, to pay with our taxes the care of idiots who do not believe in the vaccine?” “Asks the boss of senators LREM.
Still, this strategy is strongly criticized by part of the opposition. “Brutal methods” for Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Establishment of a “vaccine class struggle”, according to Eric Zemmour, and “greater confinement of the French” for Marine Le Pen. The possibility of integrating the introduction of the corporate health pass into the bill was also very coldly received.
by trade unions Monday. The text must be presented to an exceptional Council of Ministers next Monday, before its presentation the same week to Parliament. The debates are already shaping up to be heated, even if the deputy MoDem Erwan Balanant puts into perspective: “The French have actually been waiting for this vaccination pass for a long time, this decision will be much easier to take than the health pass this summer”.