Last Saturday, France again saw nationwide protests against the "health passport" that was recently introduced.
But in addition to the ongoing protests against it, many people who will be restricted in doing their jobs by the new measures also took part. While most of the focus in recent weeks has been on the fact that nurses and rescue workers now have to be vaccinated, now the large group of people who come into contact with the public at work will also be forced to have a "health passport". This affects about 1.8 million people who work in restaurants, cinemas, museums or on long-distance trains. This includes everyone, including temporary workers, apprentices, trainees and sub-contractors. While there is still a transitional period this week, from next week it means that either the "health pass" can be shown - or the wage will be dropped. This is because not all jobs offer the possibility of home office or transfer to a place without contact with people. There are also heavy penalties for business owners who do not comply with their duty to check on customers and staff; repeated violations can result in fines of up to 9,000 euros.The gastronomy sector in particular, which has already suffered great economic damage due to the Corona measures, will thus receive a further blow. A restaurant owner from Paris, for example, said that it was not his duty to check his customers and employees. He, too, had not even received his second vaccination dose so far. He said he was against sending his people home without pay just because they had not been vaccinated.
The measures are equivalent to compulsory vaccination through the back door, because the effort alone of having to take a Corona test every second day may urge many people to get vaccinated after all.
