Covid-19: the health pass for 12-17 year olds will be postponed to September 30

The Prime Minister is paving the way for the postponement of the entry into force of the health pass for 12-17 year olds.

Asked this Wednesday on TF1, the Prime Minister hinted that it would not be requested on August 30, the date previously scheduled.

“This age group, we opened the vaccination to them only on June 15.

This put them, as well as their parents, under a strong constraint whereas the vaccination started later ”, declared the Prime Minister Jean Castex.

If Jean Castex did not explicitly respond during the interview, Matignon tells us that the entry into force of the health pass for 12-17 year olds is now scheduled for September 30, which the Assembly should record on Wednesday. .

Read also Covid-19: restrictions, health pass ... What to remember from the intervention of Jean Castex

"We have planned that in September, we will put the package to vaccinate all children from 12 to 17 years who will not have been, said Jean Castex.

(…) We are going to put in place mechanisms reaching out to them in schools. 

It was MEPs who pleaded in favor of this second postponement.

Indeed, while the kickoff of the health pass was initially scheduled for July 21 for the entire population, the government had already backpedaled by exempting 12-17 year olds until August 30.

But Tuesday evening, the deputies voted in committee for a postponement to the end of September of the implementation of the health pass for 12-17 year olds.

Because “vaccination has only been open for them since June 15,” explained LREM deputy Guillaume Gouffier-Cha.

The measure was again debated this Wednesday during the examination of the health bill in the hemicycle.

The text will be debated again this afternoon in the Assembly.

Some members of the majority, starting with the chair of the Laws Commission Yaël Braun-Pivet, even wanted to go further by completely exempting minors from health passes (certificate of vaccination, recovery or negative test for Covid). Olivier Véran opposed it, fearing a global questioning of the past. The Minister of Health took the example of a movie theater with a “super Walt Disney”, “400 teenagers” in the room and the difficulty of ensuring that all spectators are “safe”.