France suspends health workers for refusing jabs

PARIS/ROME: Hospitals, care homes and health centres have suspended around 3,000 workers across France for failing to comply with mandatory Covid vaccination, the government said on Thursday, as countries around Europe weigh how far to go to combat the pandemic.

Italy introduced some of the strictest anti-covid measures in the world on Thursday, making it obligatory for all workers either to show proof of vaccination, a negative test or recent recovery from infection. The new rules will come into force on October 15.

The Netherlands plans a similar step - but only to go to bars or clubs. Britain, meanwhile, says it is highly likely to require front-line health and social care workers in England to be vaccinated as part of a plan to contain the virus during winter.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron’s decision in midjuly to require a similar health pass to go anywhere from restaurants to gyms and museums, and make the jab mandatory for health workers, has massively increased vaccination take-up.

Over a billion people in China fully vaccinated China has fully vaccinated more than a billion people against Covid-19, the national health commission (NHC) announced on Thursday, on course to achieve herd immunity against the deadly disease by the end of the year. Over 1.01 billion have been inoculated, which means more than 70% of China’s 1.4 billion population have at least taken two vaccine doses, the NHC said.

A total of 2.16 billion doses have been given in China as of September 15, Mi Feng, the NHC spokesperson, said in Beijing on Thursday.