Paris (AFP)

The government could announce before September an obligation for caregivers to be vaccinated against Covid-19, to "anticipate" before a possible fourth wave, said its spokesperson Gabriel Attal on Thursday.

The consultations on the subject announced Wednesday by Prime Minister Jean Castex with associations of local elected officials and the presidents of parliamentary groups will allow "including to address the question of the calendar", he specified on LCI.

“On the calendar there is absolutely nothing fixed, and I think anything is possible,” he said.

Because from the moment to be vaccinated requires two doses "plus fifteen days" before the second injection is fully effective, "as soon as you announce an obligation", you must "anticipate" and "give a little visibility so that people can be vaccinated "within the allotted time.

The announcement of an obligation for caregivers could therefore take place before September?

"Absolutely," he replied.

Gabriel Attal has also confirmed that the Prime Minister's consultations will focus on "the perimeter of the health pass".

Asked about the possibility of making vaccination compulsory for, for example, going to restaurants or museums, he set two conditions: that such an "evolution" be "effective" in convincing people to be vaccinated, and that it either "feasible", that is to say that the control of persons entering establishments is technically "operational".

However, before reaching that point, we must "continue to make efforts to convince those who are not vaccinated", by "mobilizing the attending physicians" and by asking "from a certain moment the question of the free of charge ".

"Since the start of the vaccination campaign, we have chosen trust rather than coercion and it has worked rather very well," he noted.

However, he said "fear a form of fracture" and "difficulties (...) in terms of cohesion of the French" if the epidemic were to resume in the unvaccinated.

© 2021 AFP