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COVID-19 VACCINES

France considers compulsory Covid jabs for health workers

The Haute Autorite de la Sante (HAS) wants mandatory Covid vaccination for health workers in France - and has also raised the possibility of compulsory vaccination for all over-12s.

Published: 11 July 2021 12:14 CEST
France considers compulsory Covid jabs for health workers
A youth receives a dose of Pfizer-BioNTech against Covid-19 on June 29, 2021 at an outdoor vaccination centre. Photo: MARTIN BUREAU / AFP)

The compulsory vaccinations should come into force immediately for all health workers and any professionals who may come into regular contact with people who are vulnerable to Covid-19, the advisory board said in a statement.

“While the number of new cases and the pressure on the hospital system remain relatively low, the dynamic of the epidemic in France is significant and could quickly lead to a deterioration in the health situation,” HAS explained. 

Throughout the Covid pandemic, the French government has regularly taken the advice of HAS, which also directed them to use mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer/BioNTech and Modern in the fight against the highly infectious Delta variant.

According to health experts, the mRNA vaccines have been shown to offer more protection against severe courses of a Delta infection than other shots.

READ ALSO: French scientists warn high Covid-19 vaccine rate needed to stop Delta

President Macron is due to give a speech on Monday in which he is expected to set out the government’s strategy for dealing with a potential fourth wave of Covid and the spike in infections caused by Delta.

The government is said to be considering mandatory vaccination for health workers as one of a number of potential measures to lessen the impact of the superinfectious variant in France. 

Compulsory jabs for over-12s?

In addition to mandatory vaccination for health works, HAS has also advised the government to consider the possibility of introducing mandatory Covid shots for all over-12s. 

Investigating that option now would mean that the government would be ready to introduce the new measures if the situation called for it, they explained.

“As recent modelling work by the Institut Pasteur shows, unvaccinated people contribute disproportionately to transmission: an unvaccinated person is 12 times more likely to transmit SARS-CoV-2 than a vaccinated person,” the board said in a statement.

READ ALSO: ANALYSIS: What lies behind the slowing of vaccination rates in France?

“To limit the intensity of the new wave due to the circulation of this variant, there is only one solution: to vaccinate as much and as quickly as possible.”

The body also recommended reducing the interval between the first and second dose of the vaccine to the minimum possible to ensure that as many people were fully vaccination in the coming weeks as possible. 

On Saturday, France’s National Medicine Academy also called on the government to introduce mandatory Covid vaccination for everyone over the age of 12. 

In recent days, the 7-day incidence of new infections per 100,000 people has been shooting up by around 50 percent per day in France. This is similar to the pattern of infections in the earlier Covid waves. 

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COVID-19 VACCINES

Italy’s constitutional court upholds Covid vaccine mandate as fines kick in

Judges on Thursday dismissed legal challenges to Italy's vaccine mandate as "inadmissible” and “unfounded”, as 1.9 million people face fines for refusing the jab.

Published: 2 December 2022 12:11 CET
Italy's constitutional court upholds Covid vaccine mandate as fines kick in

Judges were asked this week to determine whether or not vaccine mandates introduced by the previous government during the pandemic – which applied to healthcare and school staff as well as over-50s – breached the fundamental rights set out by Italy’s constitution.

Italy became the first country in Europe to make it obligatory for healthcare workers to be vaccinated, ruling in 2021 that they must have the jab or be transferred to other roles or suspended without pay.

The Constitutional Court upheld the law in a ruling published on Thursday, saying it considered the government’s requirement for healthcare personnel to be vaccinated during the pandemic period neither unreasonable nor disproportionate.

Judges ruled other questions around the issue as inadmissible “for procedural reasons”, according to a court statement published on Thursday.

This was the first time the Italian Constitutional Court had ruled on the issue, after several regional courts previously dismissed challenges to the vaccine obligation on constitutional grounds.

A patient being administered a Covid jab.

Photo by Pascal GUYOT / AFP

One Lazio regional administrative court ruled in March 2022 that the question of constitutional compatibility was “manifestly unfounded”.

Such appeals usually centre on the question of whether the vaccine requirement can be justified in order to protect the ‘right to health’ as enshrined in the Italian Constitution.

READ ALSO: Italy allows suspended anti-vax doctors to return to work

Meanwhile, fines kicked in from Thursday, December 1st, for almost two million people in Italy who were required to get vaccinated under the mandate but refused.

This includes teachers, law enforcement and healthcare workers, and the over 50s, who face fines of 100 euros each under rules introduced in 2021.

Thursday was the deadline to justify non-compliance with the vaccination mandate due to health reasons, such as having contracted Covid during that period.

Italy’s health minister on Friday however appeared to suggest that the new government may choose not to enforce the fines.

“It could cost more for the state to collect the fines” than the resulting income, Health Minister Orazio Schillaci told Radio Rai 1.

He went on to say that it was a matter for the Economy and Finance Ministry, but suggested that the government was drawing up an amendment to the existing law.

READ ALSO: Covid vaccines halved Italy’s death toll, study finds

The League, one of the parties which comprises the new hard-right government, is pushing for fines for over-50s to be postponed until June 30th 2023.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had promised a clear break with her predecessor’s health policies, after her Brothers of Italy party railed against the way Mario Draghi’s government handled the pandemic in 2021 when it was in opposition.

At the end of October, shortly after taking office, the new government allowed doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals to return to work earlier than planned after being suspended for refusing the Covid vaccine.

There has been uncertainty about the new government’s stance after the deputy health minister in November cast doubt on the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines, saying he was “not for or against” vaccination.

Italy’s health ministry continues to advise people in at-risk groups to get a booster jab this winter, and this week stressed in social media posts that vaccination against Covid-19 and seasonal flu remained “the most effective way to protect ourselves and our loved ones, especially the elderly and frail”.

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