France defends tougher vaccine rules
PARIS: The French government defended on Tuesday a decision to impose COVID-19 tests for unvaccinated people who want to eat in restaurants or take long-distance trips, as the country looks to avoid a surge in new cases.
President Emmanuel Macron announced the tougher measures Monday, including mandatory vaccinations for healthcare and retirement home workers, prompting a surge in bookings for the jab.
Macron’s speech sparked a record surge in vaccine bookings, with nearly 1.3 million people geting appointments as of midday, most of them under 35, according to the head of the Doctolib reservation site.
“There isn’t any vaccine obligation, this is maximum inducement,” government spokesman Gabriel Atal said.
“I have a hard time understanding, in a country where 11 vaccines are already mandatory that this could be seen as a dictatorship,” he said, adding that ater a year of studying the vaccines “the time of doubting is long past.”
The rules will be relaxed for teenagers over 12 who have only been able to get the jabs since mid-june -- “Making summer hell is out of the question,” Atal said. Cinema and restaurant owners said they worried the rules will force many patrons to stay away just as they are emerging from months of pandemic closures.
“We’re not the police. Lots of my clients are not vaccinated. If they have to have a test and wait 48 hours to have a beer, they’re not going to come,” one Paris restaurant owner said.
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen criticised the government for making vaccinations mandatory for healthcare staff, who will not be paid ater Sept.15 if they are not jabbed.
“We applauded them at 8pm, considered them our daily heroes, always there despite their low salaries and difficult working conditions,” she wrote on Twiter. “Now they’re being made to feel guilty and threatened with not being paid, with indecent brutality.”
Jocelyn Bouyssy, the head of the CGR Cinemas group, told Franceinfo radio that he was “very angry” about the health pass, which would be difficult to implement and dissuade people from going out to watch a film.
“We’re like lambs being led to the slaughter,” he said.
But Health Minister Olivier Veran insisted that the health pass was “not a punishment, it’s not blackmail.”