French President vows to crack down on unvaccinated individuals

By: Ryan Oswald, Staff Reporter, The Pawprint

President Emmanuel Macron has warned his intentions on making life difficult for citizens that refuse to be vaccinated. “I really want to hassle them, and we will continue to do this – until the end,” he tells a local newspaper.

Political opponents note that his use of language was not appropriate when addressing the topic; explaining these words were not presidential.

His comments on the vow came shortly after a Covid bill was denied from continuing. The said bill was going to prevent unvaccinated persons from as much public life as possible, hoping to ultimately lead to more vaccinations. 

Mr. Macron said he would not force people to get vaccinated, but hopes to encourage them. “I won’t send [unvaccinated people] to prison,” he said.

France has one of the highest vaccination rates, and for months has been enforcing proof of vaccination or a negative test result in order to enter public venues. However, the french government wants to remove this regulation to record increases of infections of the wildly contagious Omicron virus.