Searching in his phone or in his pockets in search of his QR code, a moment that generates frustrations and endless queues… The executive defined this Tuesday the threshold of circulation of the virus below which it will be possible to do without of the vaccination pass and therefore to freely enter the cinema, to sit on the terrace of a café or even to eat in a restaurant.
Called by the information mission of the Senate Social Affairs Committee to justify the need to maintain the vaccination pass in view of the evolution of the Covid-19 epidemic, Olivier Véran specified on Tuesday the epidemic thresholds from from which he could “consider lifting” the vaccination pass.
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First criterion observed: the return to normal in hospitals.
To "prevent new contamination due to too rapid a release", the Minister of Health prefers to wait for the end of the hospital peak of the Covid-19 epidemic, expected in "mid-March" or at best, from '2 - 3 weeks' here.
“There should be 1,500 patients in intensive care”, mentioned Olivier Véran, in front of the senators.
According to the latest daily report from Public Health France, 2,905 Covid-19 positive patients are currently hospitalized in critical care (intensive care, continuous monitoring and resuscitation).
“Our health system remains very exposed,” insisted the minister.
An incidence rate between "300" and "500"
28,383 people with Covid-19 are still hospitalized, a consequence of the very high level of contamination in recent months.
A sign that the situation is improving and that the hospital should soon be relatively relieved, the incidence has been divided by four in three weeks.
But here again, the situation remains fragile.
To prevent the epidemic from exploding again, Olivier Véran prefers to wait until the number of contamination per 100,000 inhabitants is “300” to “500”.
This Monday, the incidence fell back below 1,000. Finally, for the minister, the R factor – the reproduction rate of the virus – must remain permanently at less than 1.
Until these signals are green, the minister recommends “great caution”.
"It is important to proceed in stages", mentioned Olivier Véran to justify the maintenance of the vaccination pass.
However, the minister struggled to specify the usefulness of the pass: "With a duration of application of barely a month, there is still no hindsight" to fully assess the effectiveness of the measure, he conceded.
If it is difficult to count the lives saved and the contaminations avoided, “the pass has contributed to the fight against the epidemic”, by strengthening security and encouraging vaccination and recalls, according to the minister.
An efficiency which, according to him, would justify its maintenance for a few more weeks.
It also remains to be seen whether the expected relief will come all at once or gradually.
Before the senators, Olivier Véran preferred to rely on scientific advice and future Defense Councils.