PARIS (Reuters) – Around 3,000 health workers who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 have been suspended in France, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Thursday, a day after the country made vaccination mandatory for all healthcare and care home workers.
President Emmanuel Macron’s government imposed the rule to boost vaccination uptake and help prevent a new wave of infections in the autumn that might jeopardise France’s economic recovery.
“Most of the suspensions are only temporary … many of them have decided to get vaccinated as they see that the vaccination mandate is a reality,” Veran told French RTL radio.
According to local daily Nice Matin, nearly 450 health workers have been suspended in a hospital in the city of Nice, in southern France.
(Reporting by Blandine Henault and Ingrid Melander; Writing by Matthieu Protard; Editing by Alex Richardson)
