France discusses approval of COVID vaccine as lawmakers face threats | Coronavirus pandemic News

The proposed law would make it mandatory for anyone over the age of 12 to present a valid vaccination certificate against COVID for access to recreational areas such as bars and restaurants.

French lawmakers have begun debating a bill aimed at replacing the French COVID health card with a vaccine card, with some government lawmakers saying they would not give up on death threats as a result of legislation.

If the new law were passed, it would be mandatory for people over the age of 12 to have a valid vaccination certificate to enter recreational areas, such as restaurants and bars.

Lawmakers will vote on the bill later Monday before going to the Senate.

France has vaccinated 77 percent of its population and is taking booster shots to fight the highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus Omicron.

But there are more than four million unaccompanied adults, including more than a million people over the age of 65.

And for them, public life will be very limited as the government issues vaccination cards.

Called “selfish” by those opposed to immunization, Health Minister Oliver Veran said: “The purpose of this law is not to restrict freedoms … but to save lives.”

“They use higher principles, they say they are fighting for freedom, but their struggle is small and they know nothing about the basic principles that govern how we live together as a society, including in these difficult times,” Veran said.

As Monday’s debate continued on Monday night, left-wing MP Jean-Luc Melenchon said the bill would create a “totalitarian and authoritarian society”.

To deal with the pandemic, “you have been wrong in everything,” he told the government.

‘We will not give up’

Meanwhile, lawmakers from the French ruling party said on Monday that they would not be intimidated by the death threats received by politicians over the bill.

“We will not give up,” Yael Braun-Pivet of the government’s La Republique en Marche (LREM) party told parliament, referring to the death threats received by politicians of all kinds. “Our democracy is at stake.”

Last week, the garage of a government party lawmaker was set on fire with graffiti drawn on a nearby wall by alleged anti-vaccine protesters.

France has reported more than 10.2 million cases and nearly 124,000 deaths to date [File: Julien De Rosa/AFP]

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has said police will step up protections for lawmakers after they are made public with several death threats, including LREM Barbara Bessot Ballot.

He said 52 lawmakers had received “messages threatening to kill us for attacking our freedom”, adding on Twitter that “these death threats are unacceptable”.

By the time it entered mid-2021, the anti-health crowd had gathered in France, but participation in weekend rallies declined as vaccine acceptance rose.