Marie Feyche | U. Pittsburgh School of Law, US
The French Parliament on Thursday approved President Emmanuel Macron’s vaccine pass bill, which requires people over 16 years of age to be fully vaccinated to access public venues including restaurants, cinemas, and transportation.
Prior to this vaccine pass bill, France had been using the ‘passe sanitaire’ (health pass), which required vaccination, recovery from COVID-19, or a negative test for people over the age of 12 to access public venues. Now, a negative COVID-19 test will not suffice, as proof of full vaccination is required. The vaccine pass bill applies to people over 16 years of age, instead of 12 years of age, which the government initially sought. The bill imposes fines on people who use a fake vaccine pass and those who do not enforce the vaccine pass law efficiently. This legislation comes after Macron’s recent comments that he wanted to “piss off” the unvaccinated.
The bill is aimed at preventing the spread of the Omicron variant. On Wednesday, France registered a record high of more than 332,000 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, with 246 new deaths. Government data shows that more than 90% of people over 12 have received at least two doses of the COVID-19 vaccination.
Lawmakers in the lower house passed the draft of the bill with a margin of 412 to 93. The legislation will now go to the Senate, followed by a final vote in the National Assembly.
Prime Minister Jean Castex stated that he hopes the vaccine pass bill will be in effect on January 15, as the COVID-19 situation in France is “extremely worrying.” Addressing the responsibility to be vaccinated, Castex explained, “when you are a citizen of our beautiful republic, you have rights, but also duties. It’s called civic-mindedness, it’s called a sense of responsibility.”
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(With input from news agency language)
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