France

Covid-19: The new strategy of the executive

Emmanuel Macron will preside, this Monday, a Health Defense Council and then, in the wake, an extraordinary Council of Ministers which must adopt the bill modifying the health pass in vaccine pass.

Faced with the explosion of the number of people declared positive for Covid-19 (104,611 cases on December 25, 2021) and faced with an announced sixth wave of the Omicron variant sweeping across France, the executive intends to take effective measures to fight the epidemic.
How can this be done? As New Year’s Eve approaches, the President of the Republic has decided to convene a Health Defense Council on Monday, December 27, 2021 at 4:00 p.m. In the aftermath, Emmanuel Macron will preside over an extraordinary council of ministers that will have to adopt the bill transforming the current health pass into a vaccine pass.

Mandatory vaccination !

What is it about? To institute “a perennial regime for the management of sanitary emergencies”. In short, to go to the restaurant, to the cinema, in the stadiums or in the sports places, in the fairs and shows or to take the train, even the regional transport, it will be necessary to be vaccinated. The negative test will no longer be sufficient. But it will remain mandatory to go to health institutions.
The government intends to tighten the conditions of access to certain places in order to avoid total or partial confinement of the population.
This bill also provides for heavy sanctions against fraudsters. The use of a pass that belongs to someone else will cost €1,000 compared to €150 today. And the use of a fake pass could lead to a €75,000 fine and five years in prison!
In short, this is a “disguised” vaccination obligation, as the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, has acknowledged.

No additional vacations

On the other hand, the vaccination pass should not be mandatory to go to work. The government does not wish to disorganize companies which are already penalized by very important work stoppages due to the Covid.
In addition, the school vacations (scheduled to resume on January 2) should not be extended as some people have been demanding on the grounds that children are vectors of the disease. Closing classes would create enormous difficulties (childcare) and would further disrupt the economy and society.
But parents are invited to have their children vaccinated from the age of 5 !

There is urgency

However, more and more voices are being raised against this all-vaccine strategy. It is now known that vaccination does not prevent either infection or transmission of the virus. We also know that the third dose becomes completely ineffective against the Delta variant after 10 weeks and that it has no effect against the Omicron variant.
Will we have to go to the fourth dose as in Israel? Then one every month? Or should we consider another strategy to fight intelligently against this virus by targeting only the people at risk and wait for a new generation of vaccines -or a treatment- for the others?
The debate is not about to end. But it is urgent.

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