RPT: REVIEW - France's Health Pass Law Sparks Concerns Among Vaccine-Hesitant Population

RPT: REVIEW - France's Health Pass Law Sparks Concerns Among Vaccine-Hesitant Population

BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th July, 2021) A new law on compulsory COVID-19 vaccination for certain professions and the extension of the health pass to bars, restaurants, leisure and cultural venues in France, which was approved by lawmakers despite thousands of people demonstrating against the legislation, have driven a wedge in society.

President Emmanuel Macron announced earlier in July a series of measures to help contain the spread of COVID-19. This past Sunday, the parliament adopted in the final reading a bill regulating vaccination and health passes amid mass protests. The law says that, starting August, a pass with a COVID-19 vaccination certificate or a negative test result becomes mandatory for people aged over 18 to visit restaurants, cafes, bars, cinemas, and theaters, as well as on planes, trains, and long-distance buses.

After November 15, the parliament will vote again on the extension of the pass system.

Meanwhile, France has vaccinated almost 60% of its population with at least one dose, lagging behind other European countries, which are much closer to achieving herd immunity.

"President Macron and his government want to impose their pass by force; there is no will to debate the merits of vaccination. In doing so, President Macron breaks social cohesion. This health pass is not a public health tool but a psychological weapon to impose social control," Jean-Pierre Eudier, the president of the anti-vaccination movement in France and the European Forum for Vaccine Vigilance, told Sputnik.

More than 160,000 people took to the streets across France on Saturday alone to protest the law. The authorities, meanwhile, are stepping up efforts to facilitate mass vaccination to prevent a fourth wave of the pandemic, which experts believe is inevitable at the current vaccination rate.

"Vaccination campaigns in Europe need an urgent boost since the emergence and dominance of the Delta variant in Europe. European countries have roughly vaccinated 55-60% of the population. This is very insufficient to provide herd immunity," Pierre Coulie, an epidemiologist and professor at De Duve Institute UCLouvain in Brussels, told Sputnik.

According to Coulie, the number of anti-vaccine activists, who believe that Europe's freedom and democracy are at stake, is rather low.

"Other people are rather skeptics who want to be convinced but are afraid. Arguments, whether imbued with mistrust or rejection, abound in discussions and on social networks. The only thing governments can do is try to be more persuasive or else impose vaccination on all," the professor added.