France calls for vigilance after vandalism on vaccination sites

A vaccination center in south-eastern France flooded with fire hoses, its walls vandalized with words equating vaccines with “genocide”.

A piece of paper found at a vaccination center in Toulouse, France, with a message: “One day, this will all explode.”

These episodes were highlighted in French media this week as French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin called on the police to increase their surveillance at vaccination sites and pharmacies across the country. The ministry said there had been 22 cases of vandalism since July 12, when tens of thousands took to the streets to protest the government’s Covid-19 health pass policy.

Under the policy, people are required to show paper or digital proof of being fully vaccinated, a recent negative test, or recent recovery from Covid-19 to attend major events in stadiums and concert halls, and to enter cinemas, museums and theaters.

The health pass is also compulsory to participate in other more prosaic but appreciated aspects of French daily life, such as having a coffee in a café, devouring beef bourguignon in a restaurant or taking an intercity train.

While protests have been loud, recent polls show that a majority of French people support the health pass policy, while an increase in the number of vaccinations also suggests that it has been proven to be effective.

Similar protests have taken place in Italy against what some protesters complain about the state’s coercive encroachment on their lives in an attempt to prevent rising infection rates.

Olivier Véran, the French Minister of Health, this week expressed his support for health workers battling the coronavirus, writing to them that no violence or intimidation would be tolerated.

“Attacking our healthcare professionals is an attack on the nation,” he wrote in a letter.

Since the start of the pandemic, at least 1 in 10 inhabitants of France has been infected, for a total of 6,468,636 reported cases, according to data from the New York Times tracing the pandemic. At least 1 in 595 residents in the country have died from the coronavirus, a total of 112,697 deaths.