France: Recorded record of vaccination after Macron’s statements | He had a mandatory “health permit” to go to restaurants, bars, theaters and cinemas

from Paris

On the day following the French President’s televised speech, during which, among various measures, Emmanuel Macron appealed to society to vaccinate, and one million three hundred thousand people requested an appointment for vaccination. This unprecedented influx of vaccinations is evident The pressure exerted by the head of state to persuade the hesitant, and at the same time, to curb a new wave of COVID-19. The epidemic has progressed in recent weeks across the country driven by Delta variant of the virus, already the majority in almost all regions of France. Macron ordered, in two phases (July 21 and early August), the circulation of the “health card” to enter public places (bars, restaurants, cinemas, theatres, shopping malls, plane trains) In addition to the duty to vaccinate hospital staff and those who are in contact with vulnerable people. A health pass consists of either a vaccination certificate or a negative PCR test.

Health pass

The new device is not easy to apply. as expressed by the page Restaurateur in the 13th arrondissement (Butte-aux-Cailles) “This Macron idea would make us police or health watchdogs. It’s overrated.” The cultural sector is also feeling, again, abused by the fixed calendar: cinemas, theaters and other cultural venues will require health clearance from July 21, while the same measure has been postponed until August for bars, malls and long-distance transportation. Currently there are 957 people are infected with the virus and are in resuscitation services. The number is much lower than the peak of 6000 patients with the third wave in late April. The number of daily infections is 4200 and its curve shows a continuous rise. According to the French Minister of Health, Olivier Veran, “If we do not act now, The number could rise to more than 20,000 at the beginning of August.”

Presidential Speech on Monday, July 12 A change in the strategy of the head of state. On November 24, 2020, when he announced the arrival of the first vaccines, Macron said: “I want to be clear: I will not make the vaccine mandatory.” In the following months he repeated the same message. In December, he wrote on Twitter: “A vaccine will not be mandatory. Let’s trust our researchers and doctors. We are the country of lights and Pasteur. Reason and science should guide us.” However, as happened in April 2021 when he succumbed to France’s confinement again, the looming shadow of a fourth wave of the virus prompted him to change his mind. The obligation, for now, is only about hospital staff, but in the event that Emmanuel’s pandemic accelerates “Depending on the development of the situation, we must undoubtedly ask ourselves the question of the compulsory vaccination of all French people,” Macron explained.. And the General Directorate of Health indicated that 40% of the population, equivalent to 27.3 million people, received two doses of the vaccine. newspaper poll Le Figaro France Info radio also revealed that 58% of the French are in favor of making the vaccine mandatory. In the middle are the categories of those who still have doubts and those who categorically refuse vaccination.

Vaccine is hesitant

Since the beginning of June, with the gradual end of curfews and territorial confinement, the vaccination campaign has begun to lose steam. A study by two sociologists and published on the MedRxiv portal showed a kind of picture of social classes most hostile to the vaccine. According to this social work (85 thousand people were consulted) The profile of people reluctant to vaccinate mainly corresponds to the more modest social classes, young people and women. In this segment it is 20% who “skeptical” about the vaccine. Then comes the most extreme people, known as “Antivax”, who represent between 2% and 5% of the population and even have well-known speakers such as the Nobel Prize in Medicine Luc Montagnier (the discovery of the AIDS virus) or a former geneticist member of INSERN (National Institute for Health Research) and medical), Alexandra Henrion Codd. Dr. Henrion Code is the scientific guarantee par excellence of the so-called “covid skeptics” and most adamantly opposed to RNA vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna). According to her, these vaccines “will change us genetically.”

The evolution of attitudes before the vaccine was consistent. In 2020, anti-vaccines were the most trending topic on social media. They monopolized debates and had a strong influence. Between April and June 2021, the anti-galactic began to lose ground, pro-vaccine rhetoric became more staunch and anti-vaccine became less and less heard. This exhibit comes from research conducted by Bloom. It is a Social Media Intelligence (SMI) platform dedicated to the quantitative, predictive and strategic analysis of social networks.

The avalanche, in less than 24 hours, of more than a million people registered to receive the vaccination, proves another point of view. The question today is the question of whether it was Macron who convinced society with his rhetoric or if there was another variable involved. This morning, in Paris, many skeptical French admitted that what drove them to get vaccinated more than fear of the virus, is their innermost horror. Thomas, a 40-year-old man, confesses to this newspaper: “You know, I don’t forget it. Months of confinement, everything is closed, my family is away, my invisible friends and loneliness. The virus does not scare me, but the loss of freedom to live again does. So, look, what can I tell you, the thing they call Delta threatens us again. So now, I’d rather have a vaccine and freedom than have neither.”