Compulsory vaccination may be only way to normal life, says French president Emmanuel Macronas as the Delta wave grows, writes Medical Brief.
Macron raised the possibility this week of forcing all citizens to get vaccinated, as he announced that jabs would be compulsory from September for health workers to help battle a fresh rise in COVID cases.
He said, reports The Telegraph: “We must go towards vaccination of all French people, it is the only way towards a normal life.” There was “a new race against the clock … we may need to ask ourselves the question of mandatory vaccination for all.”.
He also said special COVID-19 passes would be required for anyone wanting to go to a restaurant, shopping mall or hospital or to get on a train or plane. To get the pass, people would need proof they were fully vaccinated, or recently recovered from the virus, or had taken a fresh negative virus test.
His comments came as Mark Rutte, the caretaker Dutch prime minister, apologised on Monday for lifting COVID restrictions too soon, with the government forced to once again shut nightclubs and reintroduce restrictions after just two weeks.
Social distancing curbs and midnight closure times for bars and restaurants have been reintroduced as the Delta variant pushed infections in the Netherlands to the highest level so far this year. The government also cancelled all festivals and events with large crowds and live music for the next month.
"What we thought would be possible, turned out not to be possible in practice," Rutte said, admitting to "poor judgment,
which we regret and for which we apologise".
The UK is preparing to lift most COVID restrictions on “freedom day” next week, adds The Telegraph, with Sajid David, the health secretary, saying the country must unlock on July 19 or risk “not opening up at all”.
In recent weeks, cities like Amsterdam have seen French and German numberplates on the streets, long queues of young people outside nightclubs, and revellers spilling into the streets from bars late at night.
But cases in the Netherlands have jumped eightfold since the country reopened on June 26, with more than 8,500 people testing positive on Monday compared with around 500 a fortnight ago.
“The recent increase in numbers is faster than foreseen,” the Dutch Outbreak Management Team (OMT) said in a letter to parliament last week. Most of the cases are among young people.
“We're seeing a recent exponential increase in the number of infections specifically among 18-25 year-olds,” the OMT said, adding infections happened mainly at nightclubs and within the hospitality sector.
A student party in Rotterdam has been linked with 78 infections aboard a boat a week ago, while another cluster was linked to a nightclub in Enchede, with 165 of the 600 attendees testing positive for COVID after its opening weekend.
There are also serious concerns that a patchy “test for access” scheme in clubs has led to some people being given false negative results. The OMT said that outside the younger age group, “there is no obvious increase".
Hospital admissions are so far still in single figures. But Health Minister Hugo de Jonge warned that this could be threatened by the current "unprecedented" increase in infections.
Health experts are also concerned that although young people may be less likely to require hospitalisation, more than a quarter report symptoms of long COVID.
Rutteʼs apology marked a sharp turn from his stance last week.
When he first announced the changes to COVID restrictions on Friday, he repeatedly defended their earlier easing as a logical step and refused to take any blame for possible mismanagement by his government.
This drew sharp criticism from some, who said the government had thrown caution to the wind as it encouraged young people to go out again.
“We've learned from the Dutch experience that it is best not to jump the gun,” Frank Vandenbroucke, Belgiumʼs health minister, told the VTM commercial television station.
Rutte has also urged people to get vaccinated. “This is not an obligatory vaccination, but please, people, the chance that you will get [the virus] is very high if you are not vaccinated, so please get informed,” he said last week.
After a slow start, the country has so far given out more than 17.7 million jabs. So far, 65% of people have had a first jab and almost 40% have had two.
A surge in the Delta variant across Europe has forced a number of countries to step up their efforts to battle the virus. Greece is also ordering mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for all health workers, including those working in retirement homes, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday.