While the world is battling waves of COVID-19 pandemic, the vaccination hesitancy among people is becoming a critical issue as many have doubts over the vaccine efficacy or want to not be vaccinated at all.
Govts across the world are putting up mandatory vaccinations in place to ensure full vaccination and contain the virus. Some countries have gone a step further and require individuals to carry a vaccination certificate or covid negative results to enter public places of more than 50 people. This has pushed anti vaccination camp into further hesitancy and led to many demonstrations in US and some European countries. Groups in France and Italy held protests against the covid rules and argue that such rules infringe upon their rights and liberties.
In France, the demonstrations entered into the fourth weekend as people across the nation protested against health passes and mandatory vaccines for health care workers. According to the interior ministry data, an estimated 237,000 people took part in this weekend’s protests with about 17,000 individuals turning up in France.
Around 60% of France’s population has been vaccinated while the health authorities aim at 90% vaccination. Some sections of the population oppose vaccination and are of the opinion that forced vaccination infringes on their rights to freedom.
Italy has made it mandatory for people to have their green pass in order to attend indoor activities. The green pass is proof if someone has received at least one dose of vaccine, recovered from coronavirus within the past six months, or tested negative in the previous 48 hours.
Italy has over 63% of its population vaccinated. Some populations in Italy however oppose vaccination and the restriction placed on those unvaccinated by not allowing them entry into certain places. In Rome, around 1500 people gathered with posters that read “No Green pass!” whereas in Milan people wore yellow badges that read “not vaccinated.”
Individuals above 12 years of age are eligible for vaccination in both countries. The health passes that the two European countries are making mandatory are in the form of digital certificates that provide details on a person’s vaccination status and previous infection of Covid-19. The protestors say that the requirements of these health passes for entering certain places is an indirect means of making vaccination mandatory and is an attempt to curb their freedom.
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