France: The possibility of vaccination becoming mandatory is open

French President Emmanuel Macron has ruled out vaccination for Covid-19 in the country, but said it was not a priority at the moment.

Asked in an interview with TF1 and LCI if vaccination would be mandatory, he said: “This hypothesis is real.” But he quickly added that, in practice, the goal has been achieved. With almost 90% of eligible citizens already vaccinated, France is not far from the level it would have achieved if the vaccine had been made compulsory, he explained.

The French president urged those who have not yet been vaccinated to do so. “There are just over 5 million of our fellow citizens who are not vaccinated and therefore, I call on them to take responsibility because they are not protected and today we see many cases in hospitals (…) of people who have not been vaccinated,” he said.

“Get vaccinated, get vaccinated, get vaccinated: this is the first pillar,” he repeated.

The interview was filmed on Sunday and broadcast today.

For children aged 5-11, the vaccine is desirable, but “it depends on the parents,” he explained.

Macron avoided ruling out new restrictive measures at Christmas, saying “we should always be wary of such issues”. He also expressed confidence that hospitals will be under a lot of pressure during the holiday season due to the high number of patients with Covid-19.

Earlier, a government source said France was considering making it mandatory for all visitors from Britain to undergo a molecular test, where cases of the Omicron variant are rising rapidly.

Source: AMPE