France and Greece say COVID vaccine mandatory for health workers

France and Greece both made statements yesterday (12 July) declaring that the COVID vaccine was now mandatory for healthcare workers – with French workers losing wages after September, if they don’t have a dose

For the French, healthcare workers without the jab will no longer be paid or allowed to work after 15 September, 2021.

Further rules extend to general residents, with the population needing to show proof of vaccination or a negative test to go a restaurant or travel by train. But those workers without a dose of the vaccine will be facing a lack of income, after the September deadline for jabs.

Following a more instantaneous change, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced that COVID vaccines were now mandatory for nursing home staff – effective from 12 July, 2021. Individuals who refuse to take the vaccine will be stopped from working beginning 16 August, while healthcare workers in the wider sector will be expected to have their first dose by September.

Individuals who refuse to take the vaccine will be stopped from working

Both countries follow in the recent precedent of Italy, which created a mandatory vaccine law on 1 April, 2021. The situation of COVID in Italy was one of the first in the West, at the beginning of 2020. Images of endless coffins and bodies struck fear into the heart of Europe, as the virus begun to spiral loose across the continents. Italy so far, has documented 4.3 million cases of COVID.

Laura Palazzani, deputy vice president of the National Bioethics Committee, said at the time: “Vaccines are an ethical obligation for health professionals: their professional duty to treat the sick obliges them to avoid transmitting the infection, to operate in safe conditions, and to provide reliable information on the significance of vaccines for the protection of public health.”

“Vaccines are an ethical obligation for health professionals”

At this time, Germany refuses to create a similar mandatory vaccine clause. In the UK, there is no requirement for vaccination in the healthcare sector either.

Europe continues to slow down, with vaccine passports of various degrees coming into existence across the continent. However, the UK re-opening on 19 July, 2021, is confirmed to be going ahead.