France introduces bill to mandate Covid-19 vaccinations for all from January 1, 2022

The Social Affairs Committee of the Senate has introduced a bill that will require mandatory vaccinations against SARS-CoV-2 for all citizens from January 1, 2022. Because the French government has implemented such previous harsh requirements, the drive to become the first country to require vaccination against Covid-19 for all its citizens, could be successful.

The proposed vaccine mandate was introduced by Senator Bernard Jomier on October 4.  Senator Jomier, who introduced the bill, serves as the Vice-Chairman of the Social Affairs Committee. He is also a member of the Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Choices, Social Security Assessment and Control Mission, and an ecologist. The member of the Socialist Party, together with his fellow senators had initially introduced the premise of a nation-wide vaccine mandate to the French Senate on August 31.

He has found a particularly efficient way in which to force through the new legislation for compulsory Covid vaccines, by using a precedent that already requires innoculations against other diseases. Under Article L3111-1 of the Public Health Code, there are currently eleven mandatory vaccines required for French citizens without medical exemptions.

They are for antidiphtheric, antitetanus, antipoliomyelitis, pertussis, haemophilus influenzae type b, hepatitis virus type b, invasive pneumococcal infections, serogroup c meningococcus, measles, mumps, and rubella. To this schedule will be added forced shots against SARS-CoV-2.

Those who do not comply would be subject to a fine of €135 under Article 519 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure and the fine could increase to as much as €1500 for repeated offenses if citizens do not comply. A public session discussion on the proposed amendment to the Public Health Code will be held in the Senate on October 13 before being sent to the National Assembly.

On September 15, more than 2,5 million people who work as hospital staff, paramedics, retirement home workers, and private physicians were forced to comply with the parliamentary vaccine mandate. It applied to firefighters across France as well but it was met with resistance through organized labor strikes. At least 3000 French healthcare workers have since been suspended for refusing to take the jab.

Senator Bernard Jomier has also led the fight against Professor Didier Raoult and hydroxychloroquine. On September 15, 2020, the infectious disease specialist Raoult faced the senators to defend his treatment protocol.

“Today it seems that most countries, from the United States to Japan, from South Korea to Germany to China, do not recommend this treatment, so it seems science has spoken. The list of countries that do not recommend or even advise against the use of hydroxychloroquine is extremely long, I have cited just a few countries. […] It is noted that throughout the world, this treatment is no longer used,” said Jomier.

Raoult responded with his “metadata” and his usual precision, recalling that in the US, a third of the federal states had recommended the treatment, a third advised against it and a final third did not comment. The fact remains that in Africa, countries that use hydroxychloroquine to treat malaria, have seen very few Covid cases. Africa has 12 times fewer deaths than the European Union, compared to the number of inhabitants.

During this question-and-answer session, Raoult defended himself against these inaccuracies but Cécile Thibert, a journalist from Le Figaro, repeated the falsehoods spouted by Jomier.

“As he had already done in June before the parliamentary committee on the management of the health crisis, Professor Didier Raoult again defended the interest of hydroxychloroquine against Covid-19 during his hearing in the Senate on Tuesday, even though the vast majority of doctors today agree that the medication is not effective against the disease.”

The doctors who publicly denounced hydroxychloroquine, had incidentally all received sponsorships from pharmaceutical company Gilead.

During his hearing at the Assembly, Professor Didier Raoult underlined: “I was surprised to see that the director of Gilead, in front of the President of the Republic and the Minister, was a close friend of the one who was in charge of therapeutic trials in France for Covid-19.”