After Emmanuel Macron’s speech on Monday evening, during which the President of the Republic announced an upcoming expansion of the health pass, Stéphane Troussel (PS) fears the prospect of “a two-speed France”. Reelected president of the Seine-Saint-Denis departmental council on July 1, he pleads today to make vaccination against Covid-19 compulsory for the entire population. Maintenance.
Why do you say you are in favor of an obligatory vaccination?
STÉPHANE TROUSSEL: I am indeed pleading for vaccination for all. What I see is that despite all the joint efforts of the state and local authorities, the vaccination rate is leveling off. In Seine-Saint-Denis, the rate of first injections is 37.4%, against 51.3% for the national average.
Since Monday’s announcements, there has been a boom in appointment scheduling. That’s good, that’s good news, but I’m afraid it’s not enough to catch up. At the Stade de France vaccinodrome, it seems that only 20% of appointments are made by residents of Seine-Saint-Denis.
In your opinion, what are the limits of the health pass?
ST: The risk is to create a two-speed France, that with a pass and that without a pass. The dividing line will be the income conditions. Those who will not have the means to go to the restaurant, to go to the theater, they will say to themselves that they do not need this pass. This is what we can already see when we look at the maps of vaccination and social inequalities.
We must change gear. Rather than a health pass that excludes, I defend a vaccination obligation that includes. Notably because this also implies an obligation of means for the public authorities, an obligation to act. This implies being framed, accompanied by means, application deadlines, priority audiences… This implies that the authorities make this possible.
There will be a bill, a debate in Parliament. I would like this vaccination obligation to be discussed. Moreover, the legal debate is already arising on the obligation to vaccinate caregivers: they find themselves singled out even though they are making considerable efforts. This principle must be discussed democratically and calmly.
How, concretely, to organize this vaccination obligation for all?
ST: I am not Minister of Health, I am asking the principle. If we don’t lay down the principle, I don’t know what will happen. But I remember March 2020, the situation in the department, the excess mortality in Seine-Saint-Denis. I don’t want a fourth wave that again leads to class closures. In history, when we wanted to eradicate a disease, we went through the vaccination obligation.
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