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Did COVID vaccine mandates work? What the data say

A measure of last resort got a major workout during the pandemic. Scientists are now trying to determine whether the benefits outweighed the potential damage to public trust.
  1. Liam Drew

    1. Liam Drew is a freelance writer based near London, UK.

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For four weekends across July and August last year, around 200,000 protesters took to the streets and squares of France, united in opposition to President Emmanuel Macron’s pass sanitaire. Soon, to enter cinemas, museums, cafés, trains and other shared public venues, people in France would have to present evidence that they were fully vaccinated, had tested negative for a COVID-19 infection or had recovered from an infection within the previous four months. In Paris, protesters chanted “Freedom!” and “Macron, we don’t want your pass!”

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Nature 607, 22-25 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01827-4

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 13 July 2022: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the percentage of respondents to a series of German surveys who were opposed to mandatory vaccination. The figures have been updated.

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