No vaccine? No cafe, according to new French virus law

PARIS (AP) — France’s parliament has approved a law that will exclude unvaccinated people from restaurants, sports arenas and other venues. It’s the central measure of French government efforts to protect hospitals amid record numbers of infections driven by the highly contagious omicron variant. Centrist President Emmanuel Macron had hoped to push the bill through faster but it was delayed by resistance from lawmakers on the right and left. The National Assembly approved the final version by a 215-58 vote. The government is hoping the new vaccine pass will help avoid a new lockdown that would hurt the economy. New restrictions could also cloud Macron’s chances of reelection in the April 10 presidential vote.