France has suspended around 3 000 health workers who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19, the country’s Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Thursday.

The development comes a day after the country made vaccination mandatory for all healthcare and care home workers.

The French government imposed the rule to boost vaccination uptake and help prevent a new wave of infections in the autumn that might jeopardise the country’s economic recovery.

Veran told French RTL radio, “Most of the suspensions are only temporary … many of them have decided to get vaccinated as they see that the vaccination mandate is a reality.”

According to local daily Nice Matin, nearly 450 health workers have been suspended in a hospital in the city of Nice, in southern France.