Omicron has taken hold in the European Union, where daily cases of coronavirus exceeded 1 million on Wednesday for the first time since the start of the pandemic, Bloomberg reported. Even though Omicron symptoms are largely relatively mild, governments are still worried about pressure on hospitals and broader health services, and have stepped up measures — as well as the language — to force people to get vaccinated.
A day after French President Emmanuel Macron slammed people who hadn’t taken the coronavirus shot, Britain’s PM Boris Johnson on Thursday hit out at anti-vaccine campaigners’ “mumbo jumbo” and “nonsense” in his toughest attack yet on those opposed to Covid-19 jabs. “I want to say to the anti-vax campaigners, the people who are putting this mumbo jumbo on social media: they are completely wrong,” Johnson told jour nalists.
“You haven’t heard me say that before, because I think it’s important we have a voluntary approach in this country and we’re going to keep a voluntary approach,” he said. Johnson said it was “absolutely crazy” that ICUs in Britain — already among the European countries worst hit by the pandemic, with a virus death toll of nearly 150,000 — were being filled by the unvaccinated.
The pandemic in France has become a live political issue as the country suffered record Covid cases in Europe. France reported 261,481new infections on Thursday, less than the record of more than 332,000 on Wednesday, but the sevenday moving average of new cases rose well above 200,000 for the first time since the start of the epidemic. France’s parliament on Thursday ap- proved Macron’s plans for a vaccine pass to help curb Omicron’s spread after a tumultuous debate whipped up by the president’s comments that he wanted to “piss off ” the unvaccinated. The legislation will go to the Senate before a final vote in the National Assembly. People in France have for several months had to show either proof of vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test to enter ven- ues such as cinemas and cafes and use trains. But with Delta and Omicron infections surging, the government decided to drop the test option in the new bill. The vaccine pass rules will apply to all those over-16.
European nations have been grappling with whether to coerce citizens into getting vaccinated through mandates. Italy on Wednesday made Covid-19 vaccination mandatory for people from the age of 50, with teachers and public health workers already obliged to get the shot. Earlier in theday, a record 1,89,000 new infections were confirmed in the country of some 59 million people.
Austria kept the unvaccinated confined to homes last month after lifting a partial lockdown. In February, the country will be the first in Europe to make vaccines compulsory for most people. Germany’s Bundestag is also expected soon to start debating the introduction of vaccine mandate, and officials said it could take effect from around March.
Meanwhile, Brazil said on Wednesday that it will go ahead with the voluntary vaccination of children aged 5 to 11 years old and dropped plans to require a doctor’s prescription.
In bid toprotect adolescents from Omicron, the US CDC on Wednesday expanded the eligibility of Pfizer-BioNTech booster to 12 to 15 years old.Read More