THE French philosopher Voltaire was a great defender of free speech and is often quoted as saying: “I disapprove of what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
Ironically, he didn’t say these words. It was in fact a biographer who put them into his mouth to illustrate Voltaire’s libertarian approach to a fellow philosopher’s controversial book, which ended up being burnt in protest. Learning this, he did say: “What a fuss about an omelette.”
Whether Voltaire would defend a person’s freedom not to be vaccinated as the world battles its latest plague is difficult to say but a French modern-day philosopher of sorts, Emmanuel Macron, clearly believes a price should be paid for going unjabbed.
The French President, who recently described Boris Johnson as a “gougnafier,” knucklehead to you and me, has again dipped into the lexicon of compliments to send a warning to those five million French citizens who refuse to be jabbed. On Tuesday, France gulped as infections hit a record high of 271,686.
With the presidential election in April, Macron was keen to insist: “I am not about pissing off the French people.” Obviously.
“But as for the non-vaccinated,” he pointed out, “I really want to piss them off and we will continue to do this to the end. This is the strategy.”
For months, France has asked people to show either proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test to access many public venues. But the French Government now wants to toughen things up in response to the Omicron surge and remove the latter option. The National Assembly agreed in a 5am vote.
Macron made clear he would not “vaccinate by force” or send the unjabbed to prison – thank goodness – but went on: “We need to tell them, from January 15, you will no longer be able to go to the restaurant…for a coffee…to the theatre…to the cinema.”
So, people will have a right not to be jabbed but there will be a social price to pay.
Given how French workers are, let’s say, robust in their protests, banning citizens from having a quiet café crème by the Seine will undoubtedly lead to trouble. January 15 could turn out to be an interesting day.
Macron’s opponents were incensed; as much by the President’s unpresidential language as the policy.
Republican presidential candidate Valérie Pécresse was outraged at the President accusing unvaccinated people of not being proper citizens. “You have to accept them as they are; lead them, bring them together and not insult them,” she declared.
Politicians have received death threats. Agnès Firmin-Le Bodo of the centre-right Agir party, who as a pharmacist has vaccinated people, tweeted an email she had received containing graphic threats to kill her over her support for vaccine passports. “Our democracy is in danger,” she insisted.
Compulsory vaccinations are being introduced in several European countries with Austria leading the way for over-14s from next month and Germany planning a similar move for adults.
Italy is following Greece in fining the unvaccinated as it seeks to ease pressure on hospitals, where two thirds of those in intensive care are unjabbed.
On Wednesday, the numbers neared 190,000. Italy has seared on its memory those distressing pictures of hospital wards being overrun in 2020.
So, those over 50, who account for almost half of the population, will need a vaccine pass to go to work or face a fine of up to 1,500 euros. They will also need a pass, a negative test or proof of recovery from Covid to go to the shops, banks and hairdressers.
Across the Atlantic, where this week infections reached an eye-watering 1m cases a day, Joe Biden told Americans there was “no excuse” not to get jabbed and declared how “this continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated”.
And in Australia, the unjabbed tennis ace Novak Djokovic is languishing in a detention hotel while lawyers argue over whether he can play in the country’s Open tournament. The Australians are understandably indignant at his medical exemption. The plane awaits.
Some people here have asked, given how omicron is restricting all our lives and placing increasing pressure on hospitals, isn’t it time to call out the naysayers as most of us roll up our sleeves in an act of social solidarity?
Presently across the UK, there are few distinctions between the vaccinated and unvaccinated. Certain venues are legally obliged to check adult visitors are vaccinated with either a vaccine pass, proof of a negative test or an exemption. But many of these venues are closed.
At his Downing St press conference this week, the PM, adamant the country would “ride out” the omicron wave despite rising infections and increasing pressure on the NHS, expressed exasperation at how many Britons remain unjabbed.
Given there were two million vaccination slots available this week, it was, he complained, “absolutely crazy” that more than 60% of people in intensive care were unjabbed.
Yesterday, Boris turned his ire on the anti-vaxers, branding their social media messaging “complete mumbo-jumbo”.
He stressed: “What a tragedy. We’ve got all this pressure on the NHS, all the difficulties that our doctors and nurses are experiencing, and we’ve got people out there spouting complete nonsense about vaccination.They are totally wrong and it’s time I, the Government, call them out.”
Johnson made clear Britain would not opt for “coercion” such as banning unvaccinated people from having a coffee but go for the “voluntary approach”. Yet it’s past time for those who have not had a jab to consider how many medical experts have to be in the room before they take their sage advice and get inoculated.
I can disagree with Macron about his strategy to aggravate the unvaccinated – politics is the art of persuasion, after all – but, as a journalist, I can defend his right, as a politician, to make his own decisions and occasionally get things wrong. Otherwise, columns like this wouldn’t be written.
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