It’s the view of many doctors that the coronavirus passport flattened the curve of the pandemic this summer, just as France was facing a steep third wave fueled by the more contagious Delta variant and the lifting of lockdown measures.
“It saved tens of thousands of lives,” said Martin Blachier, a public health consultant. “The French were reluctant [to get the jab] and he crafted a message that was heard. It was the best moment of his handling of the crisis, maybe even of his tenure.”
The figures so far are looking promising. Some 83 percent of the French population over the age of 12 have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to France’s COVID tracker. The number of daily cases has dropped to under 14,000, after peaking at about 24,000 in mid-August. The number of patients in intensive care increased in August but appears to be leveling off at under 3,000