Omicron: Macron Plans To Pressure The Unvaccinated To Get Vaccinated, But The Opposition Kicks

French President Emmanuel Macron has warned he intends to make life difficult for people in France who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19. "I really want to hassle them, and we will continue to do this - to the end," he told France's Le Parisien newspaper.

But political opponents said the strong language he used in the interview was not worthy of a president. His comments came as a bill on Covid passes was delayed by opposition MPs uniting against the government.

A debate in parliament on the bill, which would bar the unvaccinated from much of public life, was prevented from continuing after midnight. The legislation was expected to be approved in a vote this week, but it has angered vaccine opponents and several French MPs have said they have received death threats over the issue.

In his interview with Le Parisien on Tuesday, Mr Macron said that while he would not "vaccinate by force", he hoped to encourage people to get jabbed by "limiting as much as possible their access to activities in social life".

"No health emergency justifies such words," said Bruno Retailleau, Senate leader of the right-wing Republicans, "Emmanuel Macron says he has learned to love the French, but it seems he especially likes to despise them." Far-right leader Marine le Pen tweeted: "A president shouldn't say that... Emmanuel Macron is unworthy of his office."

But the French government wants to remove the option to show a negative test in response to record increases in infections, driven by the highly contagious Omicron and Delta variants of Covid. On Tuesday, the country reported 271,686 new daily Covid cases - the highest number of daily infections recorded in France since the start of the pandemic.