Almost three of four respondents to an official online survey by the French Conseil économique, social et environnemental (CESE) are “strongly opposed” (67.1 percent) or “opposed” (5.6 percent) to the implementation of a COVID vaccination passport at a national level in order to gain access two venues that have been closed during recent lockdowns.
The results, published Wednesday, showed that a large majority of the 110,507 voluntary participants are opposed to passports for various “nuanced” reasons. A scant 20.2 percent were “strongly in favor” of such a passport, and 5.1 percent were merely “in favor.” The remaining 2 percent were “not sure.”
When the survey went online February 17, fears were raised about a possible hidden objective, which was trying to show wide popular support for a vaccine pass in order for citizens to return to bars restaurants, cultural venues, festivals and the like that have been closed or severely restricted for the greater part of the last 12 months.
Whether these fears were justified or not, the outcome could be interpreted as a massive rejection of a similar plan that French President Emmanuel Macron himself greenlighted on February 25. After a video conference with leaders of the 27 members of the European Union about the COVID-19 crisis, Macron suggested the creation of a “sanitary pass” to provide access to cultural venues and restaurants. The idea was to register people coming into an auditorium, a cinema or a restaurant in order to facilitate contact tracing while at the same time requiring proof of vaccination or of a recent negative COVID-19 test.
This is not quite the same as a vaccination passport actively being worked on by the European Commission that would be a condition for international travel within the European Union. The EU hopes to implement such a “digital green certificate” by summer. This would also include a provision for a recent negative COVID-19 test or proof that the traveler has recovered from COVID-19.
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