PARIS: France said on Thursday it would make COVID-19 booster shots available to all adults.
It would also toughen rules on wearing face masks and ramp-up health pass checks as it seeks to curb a fifth wave of infections that risks undermining its economic recovery.
The number of infections is doubling every 11 days in France but officials said there was no need to follow European countries such as Austria that have reimposed lockdowns.
Health Minister Olivier Veran said anyone aged 18 or over would be eligible for booster jabs and that the period between full vaccination and the booster shots would be shortened to five months instead of six.
Speaking at a news conference, Veran said France currently held about 25 million vaccine doses, enough to accelerate the booster campaign. Booster shots are currently available only to over-65s and to those with underlying health issues.
Earlier, the Haute Autorite de Sante (HAS) health regulator gave its backing to a widening of the booster campaign.
“We still have our fate in our hands,” Veran said, urging people to exercise prudence and respect social distancing rules.
France reported over 30,000 new infections for a second day in a row on Wednesday, a sequence unseen since end-April.
The seven-day moving average of daily new cases — which evens out reporting irregularities — stands at a three-month high of 21,761 and has almost quadrupled in a month.
Veran also said he would ask the HAS and medical ethics committee to examine whether children aged 5 to 11 should be able to get vaccinated. Any vaccination program for young children would not begin before 2022, Veran added.
Earlier on Thursday, the EU’s drug regulator approved the use of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID vaccine for 5 — 11-year-olds, paving the way for them to be given a first shot as Europe fights a spike in infections.
Booster shots will become a requirement for a valid health pass, which is required in France to enter restaurants, cafes, cinemas and museums, among other public venues, Veran said.
Putting more pressure on people not yet vaccinated, Veran said PCR tests would only be valid for one day — instead of 72 hours currently. A health pass shows proof of full vaccination or of a negative COVID test.
France extends COVID-19 booster shots to all adults
https://arab.news/zrs3q
France extends COVID-19 booster shots to all adults
- The number of infections is doubling every 11 days in France
- Health Minister Olivier Veran said anyone aged 18 or over would be eligible for booster jabs
Venezuela to debate historic amnesty bill for political prisoners
- Venezuela could pass a landmark bill on Thursday granting amnesty to political prisoners, marking an early milestone in the transition from the rule of toppled leader Nicolas Maduro
CARACAS:Venezuela could pass a landmark bill on Thursday granting amnesty to political prisoners, marking an early milestone in the transition from the rule of toppled leader Nicolas Maduro.
The legislation, which covers charges used to lock up dissidents under Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez, aims to turn the page on nearly three decades of state repression.
It was spearheaded by interim president Delcy Rodriguez, who replaced Maduro after he was captured by US forces in Caracas last month and flown to New York to face trial.
Rodriguez took Maduro’s place with the consent of US President Donald Trump, provided she does Washington’s bidding on access to Venezuelan oil and expanding democratic freedoms.
She has already started releasing political prisoners ahead of the pending amnesty. More than 400 people have been released so far, according to rights group Foro Penal, but many more are still behind bars.
Rodriguez also ordered the closure of the notorious Helicoide prison in Caracas, which has been denounced as a torture center by the opposition and activists.
Lawmakers voted last week in favor of the amnesty bill in the first of two debates.
The second debate on Thursday coincides with Youth Day in Venezuela, which is traditionally marked by protests.
Students from the Central University of Venezuela, one of the country’s largest schools and home to criticism of Chavismo, called for a rally on campus.
Venezuela’s ruling party also announced a march in the capital Caracas.
’We deserve peace’
Venezuela’s attorney general said Wednesday that the amnesty — which is meant to clear the rap sheets of hundreds of people jailed for challenging the Maduro regime — must apply to both opposition and government figures.
He urged the United States to release Maduro and his wife, both in detention in New York.
“We deserve peace, and everything should be debated through dialogue,” Attorney General Tarek William Saab told AFP in an interview.
Delcy Rodriguez’s brother Jorge Rodriguez, who presides over the National Assembly, said last week that the law’s approval would trigger the release of all political prisoners.
“Once this law is approved, they will all be released the very same day,” he told prisoners’ families outside the notorious Zona 7 detention center in Caracas.
’We are all afraid’
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Pablo Guanipa was one of the detainees granted early release.
But he was re-arrested less than 12 hours later and put under house arrest.
Authorities accused him of violating his parole after calling for elections during a visit to Helicoide prison, where he joined a demonstration with the families of political prisoners.
Guanipa is a close ally of Nobel Peace Prize laureate and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was in hiding for over a year before she fled the country to travel to Oslo to receive the award.
“We are all afraid, but we have to keep fighting so we can speak and live in peace,” Guanipa’s son told reporters outside his home in Maracaibo.
