Covid-19: a vaccine pass for the new year

A vaccine pass instead of a simple health pass: faced with the rise of the Omicron variant and to try to avoid new restrictions, the government wants to increase the pressure on French people who are not vaccinated against Covid-19.

A bill will be presented “at the beginning of January” to transform the health pass into a vaccination pass, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced Friday evening after a Health Defense Council.

To enter places subject to this pass (restaurants, places of culture, recreation, etc.), a negative test will no longer be sufficient: it will necessarily be necessary to have been vaccinated (or cured of the Covid) and to have received a booster dose.

Regarding access to trains, “this must be clarified soon”, but “the working track” is also that the trains concerned by the health pass currently “are subject to this vaccination obligation”, according to a ministerial source.

The bill is expected on January 5 in the Council of Ministers and January 10 in the hemicycle of the National Assembly, according to a work schedule.

“We assume to put stress on the unvaccinated”, because they represent “the bulk” of hospitalized Covid patients, said Mr. Castex.

“It is not admissible that the refusal of a few million French people to be vaccinated puts the life of an entire country at risk and affects the daily lives of an immense majority” of the population, he said.

At the heart of the concerns, the rise of the Omicron variant, very contagious and which could be “dominant” in France from the start of 2022, according to Mr. Castex.

Hence the government’s desire to accelerate the vaccination campaign even more, even if the measures announced on Friday will not take effect immediately.

The deadline for the booster dose will be reduced on January 3 to four months after the previous one instead of five, according to Mr. Castex.

– “Less numerous” for Christmas –

The government fears a saturation of hospitals with the approach of the holidays, in particular because of staff on leave during this period.

According to Mr. Castex, the compensation for overtime worked in the hospital will be “doubled” from next Monday.

One week before Christmas Eve and two from New Year’s Eve, the Prime Minister indicated that town halls should give up concerts and fireworks on the evening of December 31, during which alcohol consumption on public roads will be prohibited.

President Emmanuel Macron for his part canceled the trip he was to make to Mali, and Mr. Castex the one he was to make in Jordan for New Year’s Day.

Finally, the Prime Minister recalled the importance of barrier gestures before the holidays: “Wear the mask, avoid hugs, regularly ventilate enclosed places”.

He also insisted on the need to avoid large tables. Without wishing to quote “a precise number”, he made “a simple recommendation”: “The fewer we are, the less risks we take.”

“We must do everything to avoid resorting to the restrictive measures that we have known in previous phases”, pleaded Mr. Castex, with reference to the various confinements.

Before these announcements, the main pharmacists’ union had told its members that the government was preparing to reimburse the Covid self-tests between December 20 and January 2. This measure, however, was not mentioned by the Prime Minister.

– Children: answer Monday –

In addition, the vaccination of all 5-11 year olds is looming: the National Consultative Ethics Committee (CCNE) gave it the green light on Friday morning, however excluding the establishment of any obligation for children, including via a pass.

However, Mr. Castex did not mention Friday the opening of the vaccination to all children of this age (after those who are at risk of severe form of Covid on Wednesday). The opinion of the High Authority for Health (HAS) is indeed missing, which will make it public on Monday at 2:00 p.m.

The vaccination of children, which would be done with a less dosed version of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, is a sensitive subject. More than two-thirds of parents are against it, according to an Elabe poll for L’Express, BFMTV and SFR released on Thursday.

It is the subject of lively scientific debate because severe forms of Covid are extremely rare in this age group, while vaccines can have cardiac side effects, which are admittedly very infrequent.

The interest is essentially collective. Such a measure would aim to prevent children from being the main vectors of the epidemic.

The latter continues to flare up in France, where the fifth wave, caused by the Delta variant, is in full swing.

Friday, 58,128 new cases were recorded, after an unprecedented record since April Wednesday (65,713). Their average over the last seven days, more telling to avoid daily fluctuations, exceeds 51,000.

ito-jdy-pr-adc / vk

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