A man holds a sign reading “Freedom” as people attend a demonstration to protest a bill that would turn France’s current coronavirus medical pass into a “vaccine pass” in Paris January 8, 2022. (Sarah Meissonier/)
PARIS. On Sunday, the French Parliament finally approved the government’s latest measures to combat COVID-19, including skipping a vaccine.
MPs in the lower house of parliament voted 215 to 58, paving the way for the law to come into force in the coming days.
The new law, which passed parliament with difficulty because opposition parties found some of its provisions too harsh, will require people to have a vaccination certificate to visit public places such as restaurants, cafes, cinemas and long-distance trains.
Currently, unvaccinated people with a recent negative test result for COVID-19 can enter such places. Almost 78 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, according to the health ministry on Saturday.
President Emmanuel Macron, who is expected to run for a second term in April’s presidential election, told Le Parisien newspaper this month that he wants to “piss off” unvaccinated people by making their lives so difficult that they end up getting a vaccine from COVID-19. .
Thousands of demonstrators protested in Paris and some other cities on Saturday against the law.
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