French President Macron's turnabout on Vaccinations
By New York Times
Paris. Responding to a surge in cases of the highly infectious Delta variant, President Emmanuel Macron issued a stern warning on Monday: Life for unvaccinated French people will quickly become miserable.
Beginning Aug. 1, those without a “health pass” showing that they have been vaccinated or recently tested negative for Covid-19 will not be admitted to restaurants, cafes or movie theaters, and they will not be able to travel long distances by train, the president said.
In the 48 hours since, more than 2.2 million people have signed up for shots. The remarks are an about-face from Macron’s April declaration that such a health pass would “never be a right of entry that differentiates between French people.”
Analysis: “‘If you want to be free and responsible, you vaccinate — your choice and your consequences.’ That was the president’s message,” said Jacques Rupnik, a political scientist. “The risk, however, is of a dual, or two-speed, society.”
A widening gulf: Data from a number of countries, particularly Britain, suggest that the spread of the virus will set vaccinated and unvaccinated communities on very different paths as the Delta variant gathers pace.
