LONDON — Italy has become the first European country to make a Covid certificate mandatory for all workers, as countries start to take stronger measures in an effort to boost inoculation rates. 

The government announced Thursday that any worker in Italy who fails to produce a valid certificate by mid-October will be subject to suspension. They could also lose their wages after just five days.

This document can either be digitally or printed and identifies whether the person was vaccinated or has recently been treated for Covid. The document was created originally at EU level in support of intra-European travel. However, Italy was one of the first to require it to be used to gain entry to venues like museums or gyms.

The European Centre for Disease and Control data shows that 73.8% are completely vaccinated.

As winter nears, however, the authorities are trying to stop another increase in cases.

According to euronews, Roberto Speranza (Italian health minister) stated that the green card obligation will be extended to all workers, private and public. “This is to increase safety and strengthen our vaccine campaign,” he said to journalists.

France suspended approximately 3,000 French health workers due to being unvaccinated for Covid-19.

French authorities estimated last week that about 12% of hospital staff and 6% of doctors in private practices were unvaccinated against the coronavirus, according to France24. Earlier this summer, By Sept. 15, vaccination was mandatory in all sectors of the healthcare sector.

Olivier Veran (the country’s health minister) said Thursday that the suspensions were temporary, and that healthcare would continue as normal. RTL was informed by Veran that caregivers had to be vaccinated in order to safeguard their patients and themselves.

Similar approaches have been taken in other European countries: Greece made it mandatory for nurses and health care workers to be vaccinated, and Italy said that unvaccinated workers could lose their jobs.

France’s coronavirus vaccination rate is 80.7%. In the EU, it is averaged at 71%.