COVID Today: Macron Makes Mandates, Sebelius Wants Unvaccinated Banned

Have fun, French people

France’s Macron orders all health workers to get vaccinated

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday ordered all French health care workers to get virus vaccine shots by Sept. 15 and urged all of his compatriots to get vaccinated as soon as possible, to fight resurgent infections that are threatening the country’s economic recovery.

In a televised address, Macron also mandated special COVID-19 passes for anyone who wants to go to a restaurant, shopping mall or hospital or get on a train or plane. To get a pass, people must have proof they’re fully vaccinated, or recently recovered from the virus, or have taken a fresh negative virus test.

The delta variant is driving France’s virus infections back up again, just as the country kicked off summer vacation season after a long-awaited reopening. Some 40% of France’s population is fully inoculated.

You will comply, Comrades. What are the penalties for violation?

But [Macron] stopped short of any new lockdown measures, saying “We have to learn to live with the virus.”

Macron said the government would declare a medical state of emergency again starting Tuesday, which allows authorities more freedom to impose virus restrictions.

How soon will the authorities decide to use that authority? They sure liked it for 15 months.

Greece announced Monday that health care workers will be suspended if they refuse to get vaccinated. Italy made the coronavirus vaccination obligatory for health care workers and pharmacists, and those who opt out risk suspension from their jobs or a salary cut.

In Denmark, restaurants and public events require a digital pass showing you’ve been fully vaccinated or have a recent negative test. Some German states require the same for restaurants, though suggestions of making vaccines obligatory have prompted widespread unease.

Have fun.

In France, vaccines are widely available for anyone 12 and over. But interest has ebbed in recent weeks because of vaccine hesitancy, a sense that the virus is no longer a threat, and because some people put off their shots until after their summer vacation. Demand started rising again over the weekend as people braced for Macron’s announcements.

I was told that it was only MAGA folks who had vaccine hesitancy.

Sebelius: Unvaccinated Americans Should Not Be Allowed to Work, Have Access to Children

Sebelius said, “We’re in a situation where we have a wildly effective vaccine, multiple choices, lots available, free of charge, and we have folks who are just saying I won’t do it. I think that it’s time to say to those folks, it’s fine if you don’t choose to get vaccinated. You may not come to work. You may not have access to a situation where you’re going to put my grandchildren in jeopardy. Where you might kill them, or you might put them in a situation where they’re going to carry the virus to someone in a high-risk position.”

Who is going to say this to people? Who will enforce it? Good luck with that.

Sebelius added, “So I think we’re reaching that point in the United States where those of us who are vaccinated, I want to take off my mask. I want to be able to live my life with vaccination, and right now, I’m being impinged on by people who say I don’t want to get vaccinated. It’s fine. I want them to maybe have a limitation on where they can go and who they can possibly infect.”

If you’re vaccinated, take the mask off. You’re safe. If people haven’t taken the vaccine and want to be in danger, that’s on them.