How France tackled vaccine hesitancy

ACROSS EUROPE this summer, vaccine take-up began to slow after the willing got their covid-19 shots. Persuading the hesitant was always going to be harder. Few places looked more challenging than France. In December 2020 61% of the French said they would not get jabbed—twice the share in America. Yet what happened this summer has become a case study in how to nudge a reluctant population.

On July 12th, to general surprise, President Emmanuel Macron announced the introduction of a covid-19 passport. Only those who were fully vaccinated, or had a negative test result, would be allowed into cinemas, sports stadiums, restaurants, bars, shopping centres and nightclubs, or on long-distance trains and flights. Employees in such places would also need the pass sanitaire—a QR code, in either digital or paper form—or face suspension. Vaccination would be compulsory for health-care workers. Mr Macron was taking a big gamble. He risked further dividing the country, and provoking the sort of national rebellion for which the French are famed.