Jabs may be compulsory France
Vaccination against the coronavirus could soon become compulsory for all adults in France – with some suggesting children as young as 12 should be given the jab.
Jean Castex, the prime minister, has asked MPs and state authorities to propose ways of extending mandatory vaccination to all adults after initially imposing it on healthcare workers. Reluctance among the public to vaccinate appears likely to prevent the country reaching the 80 per cent needed to achieve collective immunity.
Almost 20 per cent of French adults say they are refusing vaccination, with the figure rising to as many as 26 per cent for those between 18 and 24.
Dominique Le Guludec, head of the High Council on Health, which advises the government on policy, has joined a growing body of experts who believe compulsory vaccination may be the only way of ending the pandemic.
‘‘We are sorry to make vaccination an obligation. We always thought it was better to persuade people,’’ she said.
She suggested 12 as the starting age, but said that studies would show this northern summer whether children younger than that should receive doses.
However, Olivier Veran, the health minister, denied the French were about to be compelled to vaccinate. ‘‘We will not force the French to be vaccinated. That’s not for the general population,’’ he said on a visit to a Paris care home.
The government is preparing a law, probably to be passed this month, which will force staff in hospitals, surgeries and retirement homes to have jabs. Only 57 per cent of staff in retirement homes and 64 per cent in hospitals have received at least one dose.
Advocates of universal vaccination point out that shots for a range of diseases are already compulsory for medical professionals and in the armed forces. Half a dozen vaccines are compulsory for infants.
This week 34 per cent of people in France are fully vaccinated, while 51 per cent have received at least one dose.
The government fears a fourth wave after the summer, with the Delta, or Indian, variant becoming dominant from its present level of 20 per cent of cases.
A poll for Le Figaro found that 72 per cent of the French favour compulsory vaccination for medical workers and 58 per cent support mandatory shots for all adults.
Gabriel Attal, a government spokesman, said the aim was to compel health workers by the head of the High Council on Health
beginning of September. He said there was growing resentment towards those whose refusal was impeding the end of the epidemic.
Clusters of coronavirus cases in several care homes have been blamed on unvaccinated staff.
Castex said it was incomprehensible that ‘‘people whose job is to protect the most fragile people’’ should avoid vaccination.
An aide to the prime minister said the government was consulting constitutional authorities on the legality of universal vaccination. Compulsion could first be extended to school staff and workers dealing with the public such as waiters and shop staff.
Most opposition parties are reserving their view except the radical Left France Unbowed party, led by Jean-Luc Melenchon, which opposes it as a curb on individual rights.
The Times