New restaurant rules in France spark rush for coronavirus vaccine shots
- A ‘health pass’ or negative test from last 48 hours will be required from diners to eat in restaurants
- More than 1.7 million people in France made vaccine appointments on Tuesday
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The French government defended a decision to impose Covid tests for unvaccinated people who want to eat in restaurants or take long-distance trips, as the country looks to avoid a surge in more contagious Delta cases.
President Emmanuel Macron announced the tougher measures this week, including mandatory vaccinations for health care and retirement home workers, prompting a surge in bookings for the jab.
But critics accused the president of discriminating against sceptics or those who will not be fully vaccinated before the “health pass” rules come into effect.
Others say the government is effectively imposing general vaccination by stealth – the French word for dictatorship, #Dictature, was trending on Twitter.
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“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 is long past”.
The rules will be relaxed for teenagers who have only been able to get the jabs since mid-June.
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 speech sparked a record surge in vaccine bookings, with over 1.7 million people getting appointments as of Tuesday afternoon, most of them under 35, according to the head of the Doctolib reservation site.
And Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Twitter that 792,000 jabs had been administered Tuesday, a new daily record, adding that “this momentum needs to grow and continue in the coming weeks”.
Starting July 21, proof of vaccination or a negative test will be needed to go to theatres, cinemas and amusement parks.
From August, anyone wanting to go out to eat or drink, take a long-distance train or visit a shopping centre will need the health pass.
And free Covid tests will end in September to further encourage vaccinations, Macron added in a speech watched by 22 million people.
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He also announced mandatory vaccinations for health care staff, retirement home workers and others working with vulnerable people from September, in line with similar moves in Greece, Italy and Britain.
Three-fourths (76 per cent) of French people support the required vaccines for health workers as well as the travel restrictions, according to an Elabe poll Tuesday, while 58 per cent backed the restaurant rule.
Around 35.5 million people – just over half of France’s population – have received at least one vaccine dose so far.
At the start of the pandemic, France had some of the highest levels of vaccine scepticism in the developed world.
