Month: July 2021

Over 926,000 vaccination appointments were made on Doctolib Monday following Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that the unvaccinated will not enjoy the same luxuries and freedoms accorded to those who are. 

It took threats to motivate the public but motivate it certainly did. French President Emmaunuel Macron’s speech on Monday had the desired effect, spurring 926,000 people to book their Covid jab appointments in a single day.

This record-breaking number nearly doubles the last record for appointments on a single day made on Doctolib, the online site used to get time slots not only for inoculations, but also for regular meetings with doctors, which was set on 11^th May when 471,396 people booked in. On a normal day, the site says they record about 147,000 per day.

Doctolib suffered a short crash during Macron’s speech so many people were trying to connect, only resolving itself at 8:50pm. From which point, the site declared on its Twitter account, roughly 20,000 appointments were taken every minute. 

“There were 7.5 million connections in a few minutes Monday evening,” the site’s general manager Stanislas Niox-Chateau explained on RMC. For those not yet been able to book, “there are still appointments in some large centres,” he said, with slots reopening regularly. 

It is estimated the vast majority of those who booked were in the under-35 age group, though no solid figures backing this up have been produced. This group is being blamed for a large portion of the new positive cases, as they tend to be more social and less cautious about the virus.

Nonetheless, the message from the government is clear. Get vaccinated or risk not being able to resume normal activities. The President’s message stated that those over 12 years of age will need a health pass to enter places of leisure and culture with over 50 people from 21^st July. This will be extended to trains, planes, restaurants, hospitals, care homes and Medio-social establishments soon after.  

“I make the choice of confidence and I call on all French people to get vaccinated as soon as possible,” Macron said in his address. “Nine million doses are waiting for you. Get vaccinated is the only way to protect yourself and to protect others. It is what all of our freedom depends on.”

Due to the massive leap in interest, waiting times have been increased significantly, from about a week to 11.2 days. According to Doctolib, about one-third of people will wait between one and two weeks between making their appointments and actually receiving their jab, and another third will be waiting over two weeks.  

At this rate, if one includes the current wait times to get an appointment and the necessary three-week interval between jabs, most will be able to have a valid health pass near the end of August.

Macron’s exact dates for extending the rules to restaurants, cafes, shopping centres, planes and trains were not specific, though he did indicate the rules would apply from “the beginning of August.” For those not fully vaccinated by then, they may be required to carry out regular PCR tests in order to access these types of places.

 
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France gets tough on unvaccinated citizens

The Principality has taken part in the 47th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, which focussed on the subject of violence against women. Here is what was discussed at this high-level roundtable.
The roundtable was opened by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, who stressed that female genital mutilation constitutes a serious violation of women’s rights. Its eradication is also included in the fifth Sustainable Development Goal.
“The Principality once again condemned these intolerable practices, the resurgence of which was unfortunately encouraged by the Covid-19 pandemic, and recalled that it had long been associated with initiatives aimed at their eradication,” said the government in a statement.
The annual Women’s Rights Discussion Day focused on violence against women and girls with disabilities, during which the Monegasque delegation expressed its concern about the particular vulnerability of women and girls with disabilities, who are on average 10 times more likely to be victims of violence. Meanwhile, 35% of women in the world are victims of violence, according to the World Health Organisation.
“The situation in Monaco was also reported, where the phenomenon is fortunately contained, thanks in particular to a comprehensive legal framework that is particularly protective of women and people with disabilities,” added the government.
The Human Rights Council is the main United Nations intergovernmental forum on human rights issues around the world. It is made up of 47 member states elected by the United Nations General Assembly, and meets in Geneva three times a year in ordinary session. The Principality is participating as an observer state.
 
 
 

Covid-19 jabs will be mandatory for France’s health workers and anyone wanting to get into a cinema or board a train will need to show proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test under new rules announced by President Emmanuel Macron on Monday.
Unveiling sweeping measures to combat a surge in infections, Macron said vaccinations would not be compulsory for the general public but encouraged everyone to get a jab.
“We must go towards vaccination of all French people, it is the only way towards a normal life,” Macron said in a televised address to the nation.
“A new race against the clock is on,” he said, referring to the highly contagious Delta variant.
France has an entrenched anti-vaccination movement but authorities had so far believed they could curb the spread of the coronavirus by convincing enough people, including medical staff, to get inoculated voluntarily.
But a slowdown in vaccination rates and a sharp upturn in new infections due to the now-dominant Delta variant have forced a government rethink for health workers, who must now get vaccinated by 15^th September.
Vaccination will also be compulsory for people working in retirement homes.
Macron said that a health pass required to attend large-scale events or to go clubbing will be required much more widely, including for restaurants, cinemas and theatres. It will also be required to board long-distance trains and planes from the start of August, giving a further incentive for people to get the shot.
“We will extend the health pass as much as possible to push as many of you as possible to get vaccinated,” Macron said.
The health pass provides proof that a person has either been vaccinated against the coronavirus or has recently had a negative PCR test for Covid-19.
France has gone from an average of more than 400,000 first injections per day at the end of May to about 165,000 per day now. Some 53.1% of the French have had a single dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and 40.6% are fully inoculated – not enough to stop the virus’ spread.
Mandatory vaccination, even for health care workers and other professionals who come into contact with people vulnerable to Covid-19, is not widespread in Europe, and Macron had previously ruled it out for France.
Italy, which has been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic and made the shots mandatory for healthcare workers at the end of March, had so far been the exception. But Greece made a similar announcement on Monday, saying health care workers and nursing home staff will have to be vaccinated.
The fast-spreading Delta variant risks undermining economic recoveries if allowed to spiral out of control, forcing some governments to rethink their COVID-19 strategies just as citizens look forward to summer holidays.
The Dutch government reimposed curbs on nightclubs, music festivals and restaurants on Friday while Spain’s Canary Islands have asked the government to bring back curfews.
England, however, is loosening restrictions and will be the first nation in Britain to lift the legal requirement to wear masks and for people to socially distance from 19^th July.
After falling from more than 42,000 per day in mid-April to less than 2,000 per day in late June, the average number of new infections per day in France has crept back up again, standing now at nearly 4,000 per day.
If no measures were taken and the same trend continued, France could see up to 20,000 new cases per day by the end of July, epidemiologists say.
France’s National Medicine Academy, a doctors’ society, has recently pressed authorities to go further and make vaccination compulsory for everyone aged 12 and above.
 
Reuters