After three days of heated debates, the National Assembly voted in the first reading on the bill transforming the health pass into a vaccine pass.
This Thursday morning, around 5:30 AM, the text was approved with 214 votes in favor, 94 against, and 27 abstentions. The bill will now need to be examined by the Senate, which is dominated by the right, at the beginning of next week.
The government aimed for implementation by January 15th, but the date will likely need to be postponed by a few days. The examination of the bill was indeed suspended on Wednesday after Emmanuel Macron’s controversial remarks to the magazine Le Figaro, declaring his intent to “piss off the unvaccinated.”
Once adopted by Parliament, those over 12 years old will need to present a complete vaccination schedule to access leisure activities, restaurants and bars, fairs, and interregional public transportation. Presenting a negative test will no longer suffice, except for accessing health establishments and services.
However, the deputies have extended the age requirement for a vaccine pass from 12 to 16 years old for accessing school trips as well as after-school and extracurricular activities.
As France recently recorded more than 330,000 new infections, a first since the beginning of the epidemic, the government has introduced new health measures. Among these are the prohibition of standing consumption in bars and restaurants and the ban on eating or drinking in public places such as cinemas, theaters, or trains.
