The vaccine pass comes into force this Monday for those over 16

On the front line of the fight against the spread of Covid-19, the government draws its new weapon on Monday: the vaccine pass. This tool, which replaces the health pass, is now compulsory for people over 16 wishing to go to a restaurant or take the train.

Most of the provisions of the bill – definitively adopted on January 16 by Parliament after heated debates – were validated on Friday by the Constitutional Council, with the exception, in the midst of the presidential campaign, of the possibility of requiring a pass sanitation at political rallies.

From this Monday, it is therefore no longer possible to be satisfied with a negative test, except to access health establishments and services. It is now necessary to justify for those over 16 years of vaccination status against Covid-19 in order to have access to leisure activities, restaurants and bars (except collective catering), fairs or interregional public transport (planes, trains, buses ).

“The vaccine pass is a game-changer and will allow normal activities to resume again”, highlighted Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Minister Delegate for SMEs and Tourism, on Sunday on Europe 1. According to him, “last summer, the health pass was what allowed us to face a wave and keep a certain number of shops open: well, it’s the same there”.

Soon fewer restrictions

For Sammy, a waiter in a café in the Pigalle district of Paris, “this new pass will frankly not change anything because most customers are vaccinated. And February will soon be there with the start of the lifting of restrictions ”. Because if the vaccine pass is now in force, the government is at the same time releasing ballast on the restrictions. The executive thus notably announced the end of wearing a mask outdoors and compulsory teleworking on February 2, then the reopening of nightclubs and the return of consumption at the counter on February 16.

For the moment, it is difficult to estimate the number of people who will be deprived of a pass, insofar as this will suppose both not being vaccinated and not having had Covid-19 in the last months. The only certainty: the vaccine pass was again vilified by 40,000 people on Saturday in demonstrations, according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior.