Blazingcatfur

French police have been urged to step up security around Covid vaccination and testing centres after a spate of attacks and vandalism in the last month.

As France prepares for a fifth weekend of demonstrations against the health pass, the interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, has written to police chiefs calling for greater vigilance. French media reported that the request had come directly from Emmanuel Macron.

It came after the ministry reported that 22 health sites had been vandalised, including five test centres, 15 vaccination centres, a medical laboratory and a health centre, since 12 July.

Over at City Journal, Jeffrey Anderson has written a very interesting article that dives into many of the studies our public health officials have used to justify mask-wearing. Now that the mask debate is back in full swing as several cities and states reimplement mask mandates, it’s worth asking, as Anderson does: How effective are masks really?

The answer: It depends on the study.

Protests are erupting in cities across Europe in response to government efforts to impose so-called Covid passports, documents that show proof of immunization against Covid-19. The passports, which effectively reward the vaccinated and punish the unvaccinated, have sparked a heated debate over the constitutionality of government attempts to force people to get vaccinated.

In the last two weeks alone, hundreds of thousands of people of all political persuasions have gathered in at least 300 European cities to protest government overreach and to defend civil liberties. So far, the protests have not had the intended effect of reversing government policies, but they have highlighted that Europeans are thoroughly divided on the issue of Covid vaccines.