Around 3K health workers suspended in France over vaccination mandate

FILE PHOTO: Medical workers work in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where patients suffering from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are treated at Cambrai hospital, France, April 1, 2021. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

PARIS — Around 3,000 health workers who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 have been suspended in France, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Thursday, a day after the country made vaccination mandatory for all healthcare and care home workers.

President Emmanuel Macron’s government imposed the rule to boost vaccination uptake and help prevent a new wave of infections in the autumn that might jeopardize France’s economic recovery.

“Most of the suspensions are only temporary … many of them have decided to get vaccinated as they see that the vaccination mandate is a reality,” Veran told French RTL radio.

According to local daily Nice Matin, nearly 450 health workers have been suspended in a hospital in the city of Nice, in southern France.