PARIS (Reuters), – France’s parliament approved on Sunday the government’s most recent measures to combat the COVID-19 disease. It also included a vaccine pass that had been contested in anti-vaccine protestors.

The law was approved by the lower chamber of parliament with 215 votes in favor and 58 against. This allows the law to become effective in the next days.

The law has been a difficult ride to the parliament, with opposition parties finding certain provisions too hard. People will need a certificate to get into public places such as cafes, restaurants and long-distance train stations.

Unvaccinated persons can currently enter such areas if they are negative in the COVID-19 test. According to Saturday’s Health Ministry, 78% are fully vaccinated.

Le Parisien reported this month that President Emmanuel Macron is likely to run for a second term.

Some 20,000 anti-vaccine demonstrators demonstrated in Paris, and elsewhere, on Saturday to protest the law. But their numbers fell sharply from the previous week just after Macron’s statements.

France is in its fifth COVID-19-wave, and daily new cases are regularly exceeding record numbers of 300,000. However, the proportion of severe cases that end up in ICUs has fallen significantly from the March-April 2020 wave.