July 8, 2021: -France President Emmanuel Macron once said vaccination against Covid-19 would not be compulsory. Still, French lawmakers are now preparing a new law that would force health care workers effectively to get their shot.

The debate comes between the concerns over low vaccination rates among health care professionals in the country. So far, just 57% of care workers in nursing homes and 64% of hospital staff have received one dose of a Covid vaccine at least, according to data shared by the French Hospital Federation.

“We are not speaking about mandatory vaccination for all the people in France. We are just speaking about mandatory vaccination for people working in the healthcare and who are in contact with the most fragile people in France,” Bruno Le Maire, the finance minister of France, told CNBC.

“I think it’s a question of responsibility and having a mandatory vaccination for the people who are in contact with the most fragile people among the French population almost every day; I think that it would be a wise decision,” Le Maire added.

Other members of the French government have expressed their support for the plan, the country’s health minister, Olivier Véran. The French Hospital Federation also supports compulsory vaccination for the sector.

Italy decides to impose compulsory vaccinations for health care professionals in April. In June, the U.K. also said that staff in care homes would also have to receive a Covid dose. However, the issue seems trickier in France, given it has one of the highest vaccine skepticism rates in Europe. Nearly 30% of French citizens said it would be “doubtful” that they would get a Covid vaccine, according to a poll released by Eurofound. In contrast, the same survey showed that around 64% of people that live in Europe said it would be “very likely” to get a dose.

Nonetheless, In France, 51% of the total population have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 dose, according to Our World in Data. This is only marginally below the EU’s rate but nearly 15 percentage points lower than the U.K.’s current inoculation rate.

The French government even warned about the possibility of a fourth wave of cases in late July.