The French government’s decision to only allow the fully vaccinated to enter restaurants, bars, trains and other spaces has led to a spike in inoculations.
The French have a well-deserved reputation for being vaccine-sceptic.
A poll carried out last December found a remarkable 61 per cent of French citizens would not get vaccinated against COVID-19, compared with 30 per cent in America.
In another poll in 2018, a third of respondents told the Wellcome Trust that they did not think vaccines were safe – more than in any other country out of 144 nations surveyed.
On 12 July, faced with such hesitancy, France’s president Emmanuel Macron gave a serious incentive to encourage more people to get jabbed, reports The Economist.
During a televised address watched by more than 22 million people, he said that from August, people who were not fully vaccinated would not be allowed into restaurants, bars, shopping centres, or travel on long-distance trains and flights.
In the hours following his announcement, nearly one million people flocked to book vaccination appointments via Doctolib, the most popular online platform.
More appointments were arranged via the website in the following 48 hours than had been over the previous 18 days.
Three-fifths of the bookings were for people aged between 18 and 39 years.
Macron also said that vaccination will be compulsory for all health workers, and enforced from September.
Children aged 12 to 17 have been eligible for vaccination since 15 June.