On the other side of the Atlantic, in France, is a bet that is beginning to bear fruit.
Despite a slow start to its vaccination implementation earlier this year, fueled by supply chain problems that culminated in a contentious public battle with AstraZeneca over delivery deficiencies and blood clot problems, France finally went launch your program in the spring. In May, the country reached the goal of partially vaccinating 20 million people, 30% of its population. But then he quickly started hitting a wall.
In July, with the French vaccination rate stagnant and coronavirus cases on the rise, French President Emmanuel Macron imposed broad vaccination requirements for much of daily life.
As of Aug. 1, anyone without a “health pass” proving their vaccination status or a recent negative test could not enter bars and cafes or travel long distances by train, Macron said. Healthcare workers (a group of approximately 2.7 million people in France) who are not vaccinated before Wednesday can be fired or suspended without pay.
Macron’s move posed a calculated risk in a country where deep cultural belief in individual liberties and distrust of the government has manifested itself in the vaccination of the vaccine.
“Clearly Emmanuel Macron took a risk,” said Bruno Cautres, a political analyst at the Sciences Po Political Research Center in Paris.
“He risked saying that I will make the lives of the unvaccinated very difficult, which is a very, very, very dangerous statement for an executive.”
As the proposal was addressed to French lawmakers, protesters began holding weekly demonstrations against the health pass. On July 31, more than 200,000 people took to the streets across France, a mix of opponents of the health pass and their restrictions on freedoms and people reluctant to be completely vaccinated.
Despite all the noise, many more French people voted with their feet in support of the step and extended their arms. On the same day, 532,000 people were vaccinated, according to the French Ministry of Health.
Despite some early opposition, Macron’s risk appears to yield significant benefits.
Immediately after Macron’s speech on July 12, there was an increase in vaccination appointments in France. Doctolib, the leading platform for booking jabs in the country, made a million appointments in 24 hours. Thanks, in part, to its rate of inflammation vaccination, along with a massive increase in tests related to the Covid Pass, and the reintroduction of mask warrants in regions heavily affected by the Delta variant. across Europe and the US.
A month after the new health system in France, data from the country’s health agency show a general decrease in hospital and ICU admissions since the summer highs. And while public health experts are waiting to see if the decline will continue, many are cautiously optimistic.
“In the few minutes after [Macron’s] announcement, there was a record success in the number of vaccine reserves. And this continued in the following days as well. And what we see now is that they are still increasing, “Vittoria Colliza, an epidemiologist at Inserm, the French public health research center, told CNN in August.
“I think in terms of incentives, this really works. And the health card also has a second effect … limiting the risk of contact in our daily social life, so that should have an effect on the number of cases “.
Now the United States wants to replicate part of France’s success.
Last Thursday, President Biden imposed new strict rules on vaccines on most federal workers, health care workers, and companies with 100 or more employees. Announcing the measure, which could affect up to 100 million Americans, Biden expressed frustration with the unvaccinated. “We’ve been patient, but our patience is running out and your refusal has cost us all,” he said, acknowledging that the new steps would not provide a quick fix.
The mandates represent a significant change of adherence for the Biden administration, which previously tried to avoid widespread vaccination requirements. In the US, masks and vaccine warrants have been mostly left to local authorities. But as U.S. vaccination efforts stalled in recent months, the administration began pivoting toward more coercive measures to get gunshots. In late July, Biden announced that all federal employees and contractors should be vaccinated or undergo regular testing.
Heidi Larson, the founder of the Vaccine Confidence Project, agrees that government coercion is not necessarily a silver bullet to convert the unvaccinated.
“At the end of the day, that [mandates] it increases uptake, but for those people who doubt, things like that make them even angrier. They dig their heels even deeper, ”Larson said.
“We did a national survey with a lot of people in the UK and introduced the whole question about the vaccine passport, and it was good for people who were pro-vaccine and accepted them, but for people who were hesitant. , even more hesitant and more likely to refuse if they felt they were being told they had to or that it was a moral responsibility. “
For those who are hesitant about receiving newly developed vaccines, broader action is needed to encourage adoption, experts say. The information “was not very clear” about the vaccines, said Catherine Hill, an epidemiologist at the Gustave Roussy Institute in Paris. “There were a lot of rumors of fake news about the trials,” he said.
Prior to the new law, the French government tried to improve vaccination rates through incentives and public health appeals, an effort they have continued as the health permit has been extended.
“Get vaccinated if you love your family, friends, siblings, sisters, and parents,” Macron said on Instagram, “because when you get vaccinated, you protect them, too.”
The rethinking of communications coincided with a push to make vaccines easier. Appointments were opened on the beach for those on vacation and walking sessions began, both of which Hill Epidemiologist credits for helping with Covid-19’s shift shift.
“That [mandates] it was really a paradigm shift, “Colliza said.” If you think about the hesitation of the vaccine and how the authorities tried to handle it, at first there was a lot of pressure on the explanations, on the communication and the goal was really not to force people but to convince them . And at some point, given the widespread use of the Delta variant in several EU countries, the authorities are moving towards a bit more limiting. “
This week begins the final phase of Macron’s health permits law, with the validity of the mandate for health workers.
From 30 August, public workers, as well as customers, of establishments regulated by law had to present a health pass to enter the premises. In France, almost 1.8 million workers fell in this extension.
Anais Majdoubi, a 27-year-old employee in an escape games business in Paris, initially hesitated to get vaccinated. He used to do a Covid-19 test every three days to show it to his boss, a strategy that proved impractical when the French government passed the health permits law in August. He reluctantly got the sting, but fears what it means for those who still resist vaccination.
“I think we just have to take care of people who are not vaccinated and not treat them any differently,” Majdoubi said.
“We shouldn’t be pointing fingers at them.”
CNN’s Eliza Mackintosh wrote and reported from London, England, and Joseph Ataman, Saskya Vandoorne, and Melissa Bell of Paris, France.