The French government has defended its decision to impose Covid tests for unvaccinated people who want to eat in restaurants or take long-distance trips, as the country tries to avoid a surge in the Delta variant. But eager not to spoil family holidays, it is giving teenagers more time to get their health passes.
President Emmanuel Macron announced a raft of tougher measures on Monday.
From 21 July, only people inoculated or with a negative Covid test can access large venues such as theatres, cinemas and amusement parks, with the measure extended to cafés, restaurants, trains, planes and buses from the beginning of August.
Vaccination will be made mandatory for healthcare and care home workers.
However, critics accuse the president of discriminating against sceptics or those who will not be fully vaccinated before the "health pass" rules come into effect.
Recognising the deadline was short for some groups, the Health Minister, Olivier Véran, said that the rules would be relaxed for teenagers who have only been able to get the jabs since mid-June.
The idea is not to spoil family holidays, he told France 2 television on Tuesday evening.
Véran also announced a derogation for workers in places welcoming the public, such as shops, bars, restaurants.
Staff will need to get their first jab by 1 August otherwise they will have to have PCR tests every two days to keep their jobs.
The health pass will also become effective more quickly: one week after the second jab instead of two.
Véran warned, however, that the EU travel pass required for travel within the bloc became valid only after two weeks.
Maximum ‘inducement’
The Delta variant is now causing the majority of the 4,000 to 5,000 new cases per day in France, a figure that could jump to 35,000 by August without new containment measures, the Pasteur Institute warned on Monday.
Macron's announcement seems to have produced the desired effect, with 2.24 million people making vaccination appointments since his televised address, according to the head of the Doctolib reservation site for medical appointments.
Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Twitter that 792,000 jabs had been administered on Tuesday, a new daily record.
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To further encourage vaccinations, PCR tests for Covid, currently free in France, are to become fee-paying.
But critics say the government is effectively imposing general vaccination by stealth; the word #Dictature (French for dictatorship) has been trending on Twitter, used particularly by supporters of the hard-right such as economist Jean Messiha.
« Si vous êtes un fiché S vacciné, vous aurez plus de liberté que si vous êtes un citoyen honnête non vacciné ».
— Jean MESSIHA (@JeanMessiha) July 13, 2021
Jean-Loup Bonamy.
👌🏼👍#DICTATURE#antivax pic.twitter.com/n8p1UpndXf
"There isn't any vaccine obligation, this is maximum inducement," government spokesman Gabriel Attal 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 after a year of studying the vaccines the time of doubting was long past.
Lambs led to the slaughter
Some cinema and restaurant owners are concerned, however, that the rules will force people to stay away just as they are emerging from months of pandemic closures. They also object to being asked to play a law enforcement role.
"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 told AFP.
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.
Véran insisted that the health pass was not a punishment. "It's not blackmail," he added.
The choice, he said, was between accepting the new measures, which primarily affect the unvaccinated, or heading for a fourth lockdown, which would hit the whole country.
Broad support
Macron also announced mandatory vaccinations for healthcare staff, retirement home workers and others working with vulnerable people such as firefighters.
Véran said that staff would not be allowed to work and would not be paid if they are not vaccinated by 15 September.
Nearly 80 percent of French people support the required vaccines for health workers as well as the travel restrictions, according to an Elabe poll Tuesday, while 58 percent backed the restaurant rule.
All political parties, except the hard-right National Rally, have supported mandatory vaccinations for health workers.
The tougher measures still have to be approved by parliament which will hold an extraordinary session from 21 July.
(with AFP)
