Will the French accept compulsory vaccination against Covid? Health passports to get on a plane or train? Children of 12 jabbed, whether their parents wish it or not? As fears are stoked of yet another wave of infection, we may be about to find out.
In recent days, France has seemed rather normal with restaurants open, summer holidays in full swing, tourists returning, shops open. But we’re told that none of this will last.
‘We must vaccinate all of France,’ president Macron announced last night in his fifth Covid television address so far. It was a striking elocution. Macron ditched his habitual black undertaker outfit for a smart blue suit, and his office in the Elysée for the dome of the Grand Palais, framing the Eiffel Tower. It was effectively the launch of his re-election campaign, with plenty of carrots on offer, backed up by a fearsome stick.
The president claimed, with scant justification, that France is now the fastest growing, most attractive economy in Europe
Macron pretended that compulsory vaccination was still an open question.
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