French MPs approved this Thursday a bill to create a vaccination passport to replace the current health pass, after the controversial statement by President Emmanuel Macron about his desire to “screw” the unvaccinated. The project obtained half a sanction with 214 votes in favor, 93 against and 27 abstentions, thanks to the support of the legislators of the ruling party and the Socialists and Conservatives.
The text must now receive the approval of the Senate, controlled by the right. This will only be next week, so its eventual entry into force may not take place on January 15, as the government wanted in the middle of the fifth wave of infections by covid-19. If approved, unvaccinated 12-year-olds will not be allowed to go to restaurants, museums, gyms, cinemas, or use certain transportation, even if they present a negative diagnostic test for less than 24 hours, as is currently allowed.
One of the obstacles during its processing in the National Assembly was the possibility that the identity of passport users can be controlled in bars and restaurants in case of “serious doubts” of fraudulent use. The deputies of the conservative party The Republicans have already warned that they will take the case of the controls to the Constitutional Council to rule on their validity.
The intense debate took place when the new cases of covid-19 record daily records due to the spread of the Omicron variant, and in a context of tension over Macron’s statements three months before the presidential elections. This Thursday, infections reached 261,481, below the record of 332,252 reached on Wednesday, although hospitalized patients and those admitted to intensive care units increased again.
Almost 90 percent of those over 12 years of age completed their vaccination schedule against the coronavirus in France, where more than 120 thousand people have died from this disease since the beginning of the pandemic, according to data from health authorities.
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