Does Valérie Pécresse propose compulsory vaccination and the confinement of the unvaccinated?

Even before being nominated as a candidate of the right and the center in the presidential election of 2022, at the end of the Congress of Republicans (LR), Saturday, December 4, Valérie Pécresse was the subject of targeted criticism from of some Internet users. On Twitter, several users did not fail to recall the supposed recent positions taken by the president of the Ile-de-France region in the fight against Covid-19.

???? “I would ONLY consider the re-containment of the unvaccinated” stammering because it is embarrassing all the same ⬇️

Before voting #presidentielles2022, REMEMBER THIS SENTENCE THAT SAYS A LOT ABOUT THE CHARACTER !! ????#Pecresse#Ciotti#CongresLR#Republicains #PrimariesLR pic.twitter.com/NtlBZGIEAJ

— ????COVID COPPERFIELD???? (@COV_COPPERFIELD) December 4, 2021

“We must be wary of Valérie Pecresse, she is even more barge than Macron for health measures: confinement for the unvaccinated […], vaccination obligation for everyone ”, affirmed for example
a tweet that met with some success, while others shared a short video excerpt in which Valérie Pécresse affirms: “I would consider re-containment only of the unvaccinated”.

FAKE OFF

Valérie Pécresse spoke out in favor of compulsory vaccination against Covid-19 on the BFMTV antenna … more than a year ago. More precisely on November 16, 2020, or a fortnight after the implementation of the second confinement.

Asked by Jean-Jacques Bourdin about her intention to buy anti-Covid-19 vaccines for the Ile-de-France region, she said: “We do not have the right to do it today [mais si nous avions le droit, je le ferais] and I would make it available to as many of us as possible, because I believe this vaccine is a great hope. “

In response to the presenter’s relaunch (” [Faut-il] make it compulsory? “), Valérie Pécresse then replied again in the affirmative:” Vaccination against the compulsory coronavirus, that would indeed seem necessary to me. [J’y suis] favorable but not initially, because, as we will not have enough doses, they must be directed towards the most vulnerable people. “

Valérie Pécresse on vaccines: “Making it compulsory seems necessary to me”. “It’s a great hope against COVID-19”#ApollineMorning pic.twitter.com/LAPihy3Q7K

— RMC (@RMCinfo) November 16, 2020

A vaccine “must be offered to all”

Since that date, the situation has changed considerably: vaccination and then the health pass have been implemented, as well as, more recently, a booster dose for all adults vaccinated, under penalty of deactivation of this precious sesame.

Has Valérie Pécresse changed her mind about compulsory vaccination since then? In any case, his speech has changed significantly. Contacted, his campaign team indicates that “she clarified her words to say that everyone should have a right to be offered vaccination.” On April 12, 2021, on Franceinfo, the president of the Ile-de-France region indeed indicated, when asked if it was the “right time” to make the vaccine compulsory as she had mentioned in November, that the latter should “be offered to everyone, as soon as there are enough doses”.

As for the video extract in which Valérie Pécresse claims to “consider” the “re-containment only of the unvaccinated”, it is taken from the debate of the candidates for the nomination of the Republicans broadcast on BFMTV on November 14, 2021.

“The French who have been vaccinated have taken their responsibilities, I would consider re-containment only of the unvaccinated”

We find the beginning of the sequence from 1’44’44 in the replay of the show. Journalist Apolline de Malherbe asked the candidates about their hypothetical anti-Covid-19 health policy, based on the then very recent example of a European neighbor: “Austria has taken the decision, from tomorrow, to re-confine anyone who is not vaccinated […]. You, President of the Republic, could we confine the unvaccinated? “

What to bring Valérie Pécresse to answer (at 1’51’00): “If there is unfortunately an upsurge of the pandemic which endangers lives, me, I will not reconfine all the French. The French who have been vaccinated have taken their responsibilities, I would consider re-containment only of the unvaccinated. “

A position specified the next day by the candidate for the microphone of Jean-Jacques Bourdin on BFMTV, while he asked her if she was in favor of “confinement of vaccinated people” in the event of the progression of the epidemic: (from 8 ’34 in the replay of the show): “We must not turn things around. […] If the pandemic were to get out of control and our collective immunity was not sufficient, what I said was that there is no question for me of re-defining the people who have been vaccinated. They have the right to live today. This is the very principle of the vaccine. “

A position that his campaign team confirms to 20 Minutes : “Valérie Pécresse said that everything had to be done to avoid re-containment and save Christmas. There is no question of reconfining the vaccinated people, who, for their part, made the effort to participate in national solidarity. Why would anyone who made this effort be treated the same as everyone else? The French who were vaccinated took their responsibilities. “