Record numbers book vaccine shots as France’s Macron tightens COVID-19 rules

PARIS, July 13– Despite France being one of the most vaccine-skeptical countries in the world, the country’s citizens have booked appointments in record numbers for COVID-19 vaccinations since President Emmanuel Macron’s Monday evening announcement that public venues would be out of bounds for unvaccinated customers from August. “Nearly 1.3 million…

PARIS, July 13 (Xinhua) — Despite France being one of the most vaccine-skeptical countries in the world, the country’s citizens have booked appointments in record numbers for COVID-19 vaccinations since President Emmanuel Macron’s Monday evening announcement that public venues would be out of bounds for unvaccinated customers from August.

“Nearly 1.3 million French people have booked at (the online medical booking site) Doctolib since the government’s announcement last night. Record mobilization,” Stanislas Niox-Chateau, who heads Doctolib, said on Twitter early on Tuesday.

Maiia, another COVID-19 vaccination appointment platform, announced on Tuesday afternoon that it had booked “150,000 appointments … 10 times more than the previous days” since Monday evening.

In June, France administered an average of 167,524 COVID-19 vaccine doses per day, sharply down from the 450,000 doses administered per day in May, data from the Public Health Agency showed.

Facing a sharp surge in new infections due to the highly infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus and a slow vaccine rollout, Macron, in his address to the nation, announced that vaccination will be mandatory for health workers and that the restrictions will be tightened for those who are not vaccinated.

Only vaccinated or recently recovered people, as well as those with a negative test, will be allowed inside bars, restaurants, cafes, shopping centers, hospitals and nursing homes, or to board trains and planes from next month.

The special COVID health pass, which shows that a person has been fully vaccinated or had a negative COVID-19 test not older than 48 hours, was initially required for attending large-scale events only.

“We need to head towards vaccinating every French person because it’s the only way of returning to a normal way of life,” Macron said. “If we don’t act now, case numbers and hospitalization numbers will rise.”

A survey conducted by pollster Elabe has found that most French people support the extended use of the health pass. Seventy-six percent of respondents said they were in favor of making it mandatory for long-distance plane, train or bus journeys, and 58 percent agreed with its use in cafes and restaurants.

As of Monday, some 35.9 million people, or 53.3 percent of France’s adult population, had received one COVID-19 vaccine dose; and 27.85 million, or 41.3 percent, received both doses. Enditem