The Unvaxxed Minority, My French Covid, Quote from Emmanuel Macron

The Unvaxxed Minority

Those people who elect not to get vaccinated are finding themselves discriminated against in an increasing number of countries. In January the following events took place:

• Italy made Covid vaccinations mandatory for people 50 and older.
• Australia decided to deport Novak Djokovic (" Novax" as we now call him) after he turned up unvaccinated to take part in the Australian Open in Melbourne.
  
• Emmanuel Macron said that he wanted to "piss-off" people who elect not to get vaccinated. His actual words, in an interview with Le Parisien newspaper were "I am very keen to piss-off the unvaccinated. So we will continue to do so until the end. When my freedom starts to threaten other people's, I become irresponsible. An irresponsible person is no longer a citizen". Original French version below.
• Last November, the Austrian government said it was preparing the legal groundwork for a general vaccine mandate to come into effect from 1 February, with exemptions for those unable to receive a jab on medical grounds and quarterly fines for non exempt people refusing the vaccine.
• Greece has passed laws making it mandatory for all citizens over 60 to be vaccinated.
• IN the US, many businesses are insisting their employees are vaccinated to come to work, although unsurprisingly it is being contested in the courts.

Once again, the UK which kicked off its vaccination programme first, is falling behind its European neighbours.

My French Covid

After a cancelled Christmas trip for the third year running, we finally managed to make it to France in mid January. I spent hours completing all of the relevant forms, as instructed on the Ambassade De France au Royaume Uni website, including one which required our airline seat number which BA only supply after you check in. Problem with that one was that they won't let you check in until you have completed that form! Catch 22! After wasting time and money completing the 5 forms and getting private covid tests done to show we didn't have the virus, we arrived in Toulouse and they only wanted to see one form. And that was one we hadn't completed, didn't even know it existed! Fortunately the border police were very friendly (there were scarcely any passengers at the airport) and they completed and printed it out for us both. No signature was required. I have never even looked at it to this day.

On the day we arrived in France, the regulations required that we quarantine for at least two days provided we tested negative for Covid, longer if we were positive. We had paid for a private test the day before we departed and we took another one two days after arrival. All our tests were negative. On the second day after our arrival, two gendarmes, turned up to check that we were staying in quarantine. I explained that the rules had actually changed the previous day and that arrivals between UK and France were no longer required to quarantine. They were not aware, explaining that the rules for each country were changing all the time and it was impossible to keep up!

A few days after our arrival, my elderly father-in-law started feeling ill. The main timing of out trip was to accompany him to hospital for a planned hernia operation. We tested him and he was positive for Covid, meaning that his operation was cancelled. During the testing, he sneezed on us and within 2 days we also tested positive and had to start our quarantine again! The difference this time is that nobody would be coming to check on us! What utter stupidity.

Fortunately nobody we know who caught it at this time (ourselves included) was very ill. Mostly just aches and colds which is consistent with the current Omicron strain of the virus that has rapidly swept across the world. And no worse than you would normally expect with winter colds and coughs!

Why are we still making such a fuss?

« Les non-vaccinés, j’ai très envie de les emmerder. Et donc on va continuer de le faire, jusqu’au bout. Quand ma liberté vient menacer celle des autres, je deviens un irresponsable. Un irresponsable n’est plus un citoyen »

Emmanuel Macron, President of France in an interview with le Parisien newspaper 4th January 2022.