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COVID-19 VACCINES

France passes 50 millon mark for Covid vaccinations

The number of people in France who have received at least one jab against Covid-19 has crossed the 50-million mark, President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday.

Published: 17 September 2021 19:42 CEST
Updated: 20 September 2021 09:03 CEST

France passes 50 millon mark for Covid vaccinations

People arrive to be vaccinated against Covid-19 at a vaccination centre set up at the Stade de France near Paris. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / POOL / AFP)

Macron made the announcement in a video posted on social media in which he also said that “the vaccine saves lives and the virus kills, it’s that simple”.

After a slow start, France now has one of the world’s highest vaccination rates, with close to 90 percent of adults in the country of 67 million people having received one or two vaccine doses.

Macron’s government had initially announced end-August as the target date for the 50-million mark.

pic.twitter.com/T4yjoGRb4D

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) September 17, 2021

The introduction of a Covid “health pass” in July, requiring people to prove that they have been either vaccinated or recently tested negative for Covid-19 to be able to access restaurants, bars, gyms or museums acted as a game-changer for millions of vaccine sceptics.

But there have also been weekly demonstrations across French cities against the health pass, with 180 more protests expected on Saturday.

According to a police source, some 17,000 protesters are expected in Paris, and between 80,000 and 120,000 in the rest of the country — a similar figure to last week’s turnout, but only half the numbers seen in early August.

Macron said on Thursday that “some constraints” could be lifted in areas where the virus spread was slowing, but gave no details or a timetable.

The French health authorities on Thursday reported just over 8,100 new Covid cases in the previous 24 hours, and 65 new virus deaths.

The total number of French Covid deaths stood at 115,894, the Sante Publique agency said.

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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.

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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