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Parliament of France gave final nod on Sunday to the government's latest strictures to control the rising number of Covid-19 cases, including a controversial vaccine pass, proposed by President Emanuel Macron. The law mandates people to show proof of vaccination to gain access to public places -- restaurants, cafes, cinemas and long distance trains -- and will impose fines on those who fake vaccine passes.
Currently, people without vaccines can enter such places with a recent negative Covid-19 test report. Majority of French people, however, are fully vaccinated.
Lawmakers in the lower house of the parliament approved the law by a vote of 215 to 58. Although Macron, a centrist president seeking re-election in April, hoped to enforce the law faster, it was delayed by parliamentarians on the right and left, who proposed several amendments.
Macron was in the eye of the storm early this month when he said he wanted to "piss off" unvaccinated people by making their life so difficult that they'll be forced to take the shots. The strong comment drew ire of a section of people, but it helped bring down anti-vaxxers protests on the streets. Macron knows very well that anti-vaxxers are a thin minority in France.
The new vaccine law is expected to bring down the rising cases of Omicron -- which reached 300,000 daily cases a day -- and ease down pressures on the nation's healthcare system, and eventually the exchequer, without moving towards a lockdown. New lockdown restrictions at this moment will surely render a heavy blow to the faltering economy and ruin his chance of getting a second term.
He is well aware of the fact that the new law is a better gamble -- it will both hit anti- vaccine populists (mostly fed by his right wing opponents) and is likely to prevent a downslide of the economy.
READ MORE:
https://www.france24.com/en/france/20220117-health-pass-becomes-vaccine-pass-details-of-france-s-tough-new-anti-pandemic-bill
https://www.euronews.com/2022/01/16/french-lawmakers-ban-unvaccinated-from-public-venues-with-new-virus-law
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/16/french-parliament-approves-vaccine-pass-law-to-tackle-covid