France’s parliament on Thursday approved President Emmanuel Macron’s plans for a vaccine pass to help curb the spread of the Omicron variant after a tumultuous debate whipped up by Macron’s comments that he wanted to “p--- off” the unvaccinated, reports Gulf News.
Macron told Le Parisien newspaper earlier this week that he wanted to make the lives of those refusing the COVID-19 vaccine so complicated by squeezing them out of public places that they would end up getting jabbed.
Macron’s coarse language barely three months before a presidential election was widely seen as a politically calculated, tapping into a intensifying public frustration against the unvaccinated.
More than 90% of over-12s have received at least two doses, government data shows. Health minister Olivier Véran said a record number of people since October 1 received a first shot on Wednesday after Macron’s comments were published.
Lawmakers in the lower house passed draft legislation including the vaccine pass shortly after 5am after an all-night session by a margin of 214 to 93. Many of those who voted against the bill were from the far-right or left-wingers.
The legislation will go to the Senate before a final vote in the National Assembly.