French parliament approves latest COVID vaccine measures

People wearing protective face masks walk in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in France, January 5, 2022. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

PARIS — The French parliament approved on Thursday the government’s latest measures to tackle the COVID-19 virus, including a COVID vaccine pass, offering some respite to President Emmanuel Macron after criticism of Macron’s attack on the unvaccinated.

The legislation for the COVID vaccine pass was approved by 214 members of parliament, versus 93 who voted against it, while there were 27 abstentions. The measures will then go up to the Senate, which will examine it before any further approval.

The ruling La Republique En Marche party had earlier this week defended Macron’s use of coarse language as Macron stepped up his campaign against those who have not been fully vaccinated against COVID, after his words drew condemnation from the opposition and mixed reactions from voters.

Macron said he wanted to “piss off” unvaccinated people by making their lives so complicated they would end up getting the COVID vaccine. He was speaking in an interview with Le Parisien newspaper, in which he also called unvaccinated people irresponsible and unworthy of being considered citizens.

On Wednesday, France registered a record of more than 332,000 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, and a further 246 COVID deaths in hospitals, as the country battles against a fifth wave of the virus.