France is way down the list of those countries where people are prepared to be vaccinated. Judging by some recent survey responses, it could mean that only half the country’s adult population will actually step up and get a jab. And that is way below the proportion required to beat the virus. Just as Emmanuel Macron was hoping that he could preen his reputation as a sage head of state, successfully leading the country out of the purgatory of the epidemic, things got a little bit tricky for the self-proclaimed genius of the art of communication. The return of L’art de vivre à la française may have to be pushed even further into the future.
If more than 5,000 new infections by SARS-Cov-2 are being recorded each day across the country in the run up to 15 December then his promised further relaxation of the lockdown controls will be postponed: museums, theatres and cinemas will stay shut and the French families may have Christmas, and the New Year, each in their own home. Not good for someone who likes to win every battle. Naturally, he personally prefers it that way. But it is also that succession of victories which will give him the momentum to win the next election for the presidency in 2022, allowing him to complete the free market, deregulated, low wage transition he seeks for the country.
Doing as one pleases
Hence the importance of those survey results. The Fifth Republic’s way of resolving such things is to make them mandatory. For many years, just three vaccines were compulsory (polio, diphtheria and tetanus) but soon after Macron arrived in the Elysée another eight were added for everyone born after the start of 2018. Without these eleven vaccines, a child cannot go to a crèche or school.
