Faced with the explosion of Covid-19 contaminations and the spread of the Omicron variant, the government is rushing the implementation of the vaccine pass. The bill transforming the health pass must be presented Monday, December 27 during an extraordinary Council of Ministers. He will be examined in committee at the National Assembly on Wednesday, the day when the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, must be heard. It must then be considered in the Senate from January 5. Franceinfo summarizes for you what this bill contains is due to come into effect on January 15.
An incentive to get vaccinated
“Although the vaccination and the health pass have so far made it possible to limit the consequences of the epidemic on the healthcare system, it remains under high tension, while interventions that had to be postponed during previous waves must also be reprogrammed “, justifies the government in the explanatory memorandum of the text.
While at this stage, 51 million people in France are fully vaccinated, or 76% of the total population, less than 6 million remain among those eligible who have not had the vaccine. The executive is also concerned that “more than a million people identified as at risk have still not started a vaccination schedule”.
Transforming the health pass into a vaccination pass therefore amounts to a “form of vaccination obligation”, had assumed Gabriel Attal, the government spokesman, and Olivier Véran, the Minister of Health, when the executive had revealed his intention in mid-December.
A negative test will no longer suffice
The vaccination pass will be required “for access to leisure activities, restaurants and drinking establishments, fairs, seminars and trade shows as well as interregional transport”, in particular rail. However, the only presentation of a negative test remains valid. “for access to health and medico-social establishments and services”.
The bill also provides for making a screening test necessary for French people who have only one dose or two to validate the vaccination pass, according to information from franceinfo. The government also reserves the right to require a “accumulation of supporting documents”, i.e. a negative test and a vaccination certificate, when “the interest of public health and the state of the health situation” could justify it.
This would be the case, for example, in certain places or in certain situations of great promiscuity, such as for trips to the Overseas Territories or to access certain concert halls. The government remains very cautious about this possibility for the moment. There is no question of a vaccine pass ++, he explains. The executive ensures that it is only a question of including this possibility in the bill.
The text also states that a decree “may provide for the conditions under which proof of commitment to a vaccination schedule is equivalent to proof of vaccination status” for people who work in establishments where the pass is required.
Stronger penalties in the event of fraud
There are still plans to increase the scale of penalties applicable in the event of pass fraud. The presentation of an authentic vaccination pass, but belonging to another person, will result in a fine of 1000 euros. Until now the penalty was only 150 euros.
For false passes, the penalty may be up to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros for simple detention. Managers of establishments open to the public will be able to check identities in case of doubt. The lack of control of the pass by the owner of an establishment will also result in a fine of 1,000 euros from the first failure.
The president of the law committee specifies that it will be less an identity check than a consistency check, like a cashier who asks for the identity card for payment by check. .
No health pass in the company
The text does not include the track of a health pass in the company in view of the reluctance of the social partners. But majority deputies could introduce the device into the text by tabling an amendment. The president of the PS group in the National Assembly, Valérie Rabault, warned Thursday that if the group would vote “in principle” for the vaccination pass, he would oppose a corporate pass. The environmental deputies are also circumspect and on the side of the National Rally, the deputy of the North and spokesperson for the party Sébastien Chenu affirmed that he would vote against the text, whatever its content.
Martinique and Reunion in a state of emergency
Parliamentarians will finally be invited to extend the state of health emergency until March 31, 2022 in Martinique and to declare it until the same date in Reunion, it being specified “that in the event of declaration of a state of health emergency in another ultra-marine community before March 1, 2022, this state of emergency will also apply until March 31, 2022”.