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PARIS. – Hospitals, care homes and health centres have suspended around 3 000 workers across France for failing to comply with mandatory Covid-19 vaccination, the government said yesterday, as countries around Europe weigh how far to go to combat the pandemic.

The Italian government yesterday approved some of the strictest anti-COVID measures in the world, making it obligatory for all workers either to show proof of vaccination, a negative test or recent recovery from infection. The Netherlands plans a similar step – but only to go to bars or clubs.

Britain, meanwhile, says it is highly likely to require front-line health and social care workers in England to be vaccinated as part of a plan to contain the virus during winter.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron’s decision in mid-July to require a similar health pass to go anywhere from restaurants to gyms and museums, and make the jab mandatory for health workers, has massively increased vaccination take-up.

With the mandate for workers in hospitals and care homes taking effect on Wednesday, its very concrete impact – unvaccinated staff forbidden to work – started to be felt.

After the president’s announcement, Doctolib, the website people use to book their jabs, crashed as so many people tried secure appointments.

According to local daily Nice Matin, nearly 450 health workers – out of 7 500 – have been suspended in just one hospital in the city of Nice, in southern France.

The government, however, shrugged off the impact.

“It hasn’t been chaos, far from it,” Health Minister Olivier Veran told French RTL radio, adding there were 27 million workers in the sector.

There have been a few cases where it has affected care, he said, like the use of an MRI being briefly complicated, but most suspended staff work in support roles, limiting the impact.

“Most of the suspensions are only temporary … many have decided to get vaccinated as they see that the vaccination mandate is a reality,” Veran said.

But unions warn of likely disruptions to care, and just a few absentees in a team is enough to trigger a crisis, Emmanuel Chignon, a care home manager in Bordeaux said this week, pointing to how hard it was to hire staff in the sector.

“If we can’t replace the carers who leave, the work will fall on the others, and I fear an unvirtuous circle, with tiredness, exhaustion and an increase in absenteeism,” he said.

In Italy, where vaccination for health workers was made mandatory at the end of March, some have been suspended, but with numbers nowhere near those seen in France.

As of September 16, some 728 doctors in all of Italy had been suspended for failing to be vaccinated, the Italian doctors’ federation said.

Any worker in Italywho fails to present a valid health certificate will be suspended on no pay, but cannot be sacked, according to a the decree passed yesterday.

People who ignore the decree and go to work regardless will face a fine of between €600 to €1 500.

In other countries, like the Netherlands, opinion polls show a majority of the public favouring mandatory vaccination for health workers, with the workers themselves mostly opposed to it, and the government has said it will not take such measures.

However a pass showing proof of vaccination or a recent negative coronavirus test is set to be required there as of September 25 to go to bars, restaurants, clubs or cultural events.

In Greece, unvaccinated public and private sector employees have to have Covid-19 tests once or twice a week, at their own expense. The rule came into force on Monday.

And last week, the US made vaccines mandatory for federal government workers and contractors, and for all businesses with more than 100 employees. The rule affects covers about 100 million workers.

US President Joe Biden warned that if people didn’t get vaccinated, they should be prepared to undergo weekly testing for Covid-19.”

This is not about freedom, or personal choice, it’s about protecting yourself and those around you,” he said as he unveiled the plan. – Reuters