France suspends 3k health workers for refusing jabs

MORE THAN 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.

PARIS/ROME: Hospitals, care homes and health centres have suspended around 3,000 workers across France for not complying with mandatory Covid-19 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 frontline 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.

More than 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.

The vaccination programme - the largest in the world - began last year when the government allowed emergency inoculation of frontline workers. At present, China allows those 12 and above to be vaccinated.