France rushes to get vaccinated after president's warning

PARIS (AP) — More than 1 million people in France made vaccine appointments in less than a day, figures showed on Tuesday, after the president cranked up pressure on everyone to get vaccinated to save summer vacation and the French economy.

Some bristled at President Emmanuel Macron’s admonitions to “get vaccinated!” immediately, but many people signed up anyway for a jab, accepting the idea that it’s the only way to return to some semblance of pre-pandemic life.

With infections rising around France, Macron also mandated special COVID passes to go to restaurants, shopping malls, or get on trains or planes - which raised questions and worries among visiting tourists as well French vacationers.

An app that centralizes France’s vaccine and other medical appointments, Doctolib, announced Tuesday that 1.3 million people signed up for injections after Macron gave a televised address Monday night urging more vaccination. It was a daily record since France rolled out coronavirus vaccines in December. People under age 35 made up most of the new appointments, Doctolib said.

Macron announced Monday that vaccination would be obligatory for all health care workers by Sept. 15, and held out the possibility of extending the requirement to others. Around 41% of the French population has been fully vaccinated, though the pace of vaccination waned as summer vacations approached.

At a vaccine center in Versailles west of Paris, most of those lining up Tuesday were young people. Finance worker Thibault Razafinarivo, 26, said, “I have a newborn baby at home, and we don’t want to take any risks with him”. A 23-year-old who works in radiology said she wants to protect her family and her patients.

Some said the government’s vaccine push makes them feel safer, but others expressed...