Consequences of vaccine pass coming into force in France
Tourism – COVID-19 – Interview given by M. Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Minister Delegate for Tourism, French Nationals Abroad and Francophonie, attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, and for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, attached to the Minister of the Economy, Finance and the Recovery, to Europe 1 (excerpt)
Paris, 23 January 2022
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Q. – Will we need this vaccine pass to travel in February, at Easter, this summer?
THE MINISTER – Careful, there are two aspects: what’s called the “activities pass”, that is [if] I want to go to a restaurant, a nightclub – basically a place which caters to the public and was previously subject to the health pass – I’m now required to have a vaccine pass; but to cross a border, what’s called the “border pass”, we’re keeping what existed before, in other words the European system applies. And so provided I’ve got my two doses, I can cross the border. On the other hand, Europeans who come here, not having had their booster, will find they don’t have access to many activities. The good news is that in Europe there’s really a general trend towards getting a booster. And let me add that with the vaccine pass, too, we’re talking about an arrangement that is set to be temporary, because it’s in place as the epidemic declines. The Prime Minister also said so in his speech: when the health conditions are met, the idea is to remove the vaccine pass once enough intensive-care beds are freed up, so we’ll then be able to remove it while keeping precautionary measures. The law allows us to continue it until July – touch wood; I hope we won’t have to reactivate it once we’ve deactivated it. But in any case the tools are there. (…)./.