The government follows his advice more or less, but rarely has a minister made his disagreement with the Scientific Council so clearly known.
In an opinion published this Saturday, Professor Jean-François Delfraissy and his colleagues called on the government to introduce “significant restrictions” in the face of the risk of transmission as the end of the year holidays approach, while 310 cases of Omicron have been identified in France.
They recommend in particular the reinforcement of controls in public space, hospital capacities, checks on arrival on West Indian soil, but also prohibited activities and curfews on New Year's Eve, as last year.
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But the Minister of Health is opposed to this form of collective punishment.
“We made the choice not to deprive all French people of freedoms because 5 million of them are not vaccinated.
I consider that with the speed of circulation of the Omicron variant, gauges or building closures would not have as great an impact as what we could have had with less contagious variants, ”said Olivier Véran in the face of our colleagues of Brut.
Traveling in the Cher on December 7, Emmanuel Macron said "felt fatigue" among the French.
The head of state, in the midst of the presidential election campaign, ruled that the French were demoralized by the 5th wave of Covid-19 and "less positive than two months ago".
Hence the "recommendation" rather than the punishment.
However, a few bans are still in force: no fireworks, no New Year's pot, no sale of alcohol and food on public roads to avoid large events and gatherings.
"We will celebrate a little later, when we will be rid of this virus", assures the minister.