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PARIS — The deal was simple: get vaccinated and go back to your normal life.

in a country with high level of suspicion The deal on Covid-19 vaccines and citizens quick defiance of authorities was an unexpected success. He made France one of the largest countries in Europe. vaccinated Countries suppressed street protests by government critics and stepped up President Emmanuel Macron’s reelection bid as normal life returned. Even deadly skeptics became believers, at least for a while.

“It’s great to myself, everyone will be vaccinated and in three months we will all be well, we will have our freedom back,” said Marc Olissone, 60, who was visiting Paris from northern France. He resisted to shoot. “I got vaccinated because it’s the only way I can go to the movies or visit my friends in Paris.”

“I believed it,” said Mr Olissone, a former entertainment industry producer who has worked at a funeral home since the beginning of the pandemic. “But I don’t believe it anymore.”

As the Omicron variant spreads in France, it challenges the unwritten social contract underlying the government’s fight against the virus and undermines the assumptions on which Mr Macron – and many world leaders – are based. More than any previous variant, it redefines what it means to be fully infused, creates a new urgency in booster shots, and removes barriers to achieving a fleeting and increasingly misleading normality for many.

While vaccines aren’t all that effective at curbing Omicron infections, scientists believe they help keep the disease mild for most people, and preliminary research shows they keep most people out of the hospital. And while health officials still see vaccines as a way out of the pandemic—especially if more people get vaccinated—their availability hasn’t ended the scourge as quickly as hoped.

This seems to be hampering the ability of leaders worldwide to get their exhausted citizens to comply with Covid rules. In France, the stakes are high for Mr Macron, who has been betting on the twin power of vaccines over the summer – which he said “the trump card that changes everything”—and finally a health card that allows people to eat and socialize indoors with relative safety.

Even now, the government did not hesitate, as France reported 206,243 new cases in the last 24 hours on Thursday and reported over 200,000 for the second consecutive day. On Monday, it resisted pressure from doctors and scientists to impose a New Year’s Eve curfew or delay the start of school next week, rejecting more stringent restrictions recently imposed by many countries. France’s neighborsThe city of Paris announced on Wednesday that wearing masks outdoors will become mandatory again.

The government also shortened the required delay between a second shot and a booster. Last month, it cut the wait time from six months to five, then to four, and finally to three.

“Then it will be biweekly?” Said Olivier Toulisse, 44, who resides in eastern France and wanders the Champs-Élysées in Paris. “Honestly, I was very hopeful about vaccines. I really believed they were going to get us out of this.”

Franck Chauvin, chair of the government’s Supreme Council for Public Health and a member of a scientific panel that advised Mr. Macron on the pandemic, acknowledged the devastating impact Omicron has had after a period of relative peace since last summer.

“The emergence of new variants, the debate about vaccines – and we’re seeing this now with Omicron – all of this is forcing us to redefine this social contract,” Mr. Chauvin said in an interview.

Mr Chauvin said beyond vaccines, France should probably focus more on “greater civic responsibility” by encouraging more mindfulness in social interactions. He said this evolution came about as many citizens were tested before joining their families for the holidays.

Stewart Chau, an analyst for survey firm Viavoice, said public support for the government’s handling of the pandemic has waned. started to slide. If there is no concrete result behind it, this social contract will not work,” he said.

Government approval to deal with the crisis started to rise last March, with the start of vaccination and peaking at 50 percent after the introduction of the health card in August, but has waned over the past month. dresser survey firm.

The Omicron challenge came at a particularly tense moment when the government’s push to voluntarily vaccinate children aged 5 to 11 raised new concerns and divisions.

Since the early stages of the epidemic, the French, like others elsewhere, have been asked to think and act for the greater good: Wear a mask to protect others, not yourself. Protect the elderly. Get vaccinated to stop the virus from circulating.

Frédéric Worms, a French philosopher who studies the growing fatigue from the pandemic, said the introduction of vaccines to children ages 5 to 11 has sharpened debates about the self and the greater well-being.

“It can push people towards freedom for all,” he said. “There’s a strong agony, a psychological dimension to the fact that we sacrifice ourselves to save our children.”

by questionnaire According to Elabe, more than two-thirds of parents of eligible children oppose vaccinating children, while 51 percent of the general population is in favor. Experience in the United States and other countries, where a significant number of children in this age group have already been vaccinated, shows that side effects are rare. But many parents are reluctant to expose their children to new vaccines, as very young children rarely get sick from the virus.

Sandrine Gianati, 40, looked after her two sons, ages 5 and 7, in a park in the 11th district of Paris. She, her husband and relatives – all but their children were vaccinated.

“I did it to protect others from solidarity,” he said. “And when I see that the unvaccinated still don’t want to be vaccinated, I accept it, it’s their choice. But I don’t want my children to be vaccinated by adults who refuse to be vaccinated.”

seventy seven percent French received at least two doses, or 90 percent of people 12 years and older. But nearly 4 million adults have yet to receive a single injection and remain unvaccinated, making a disproportionate number of hospitalized or dead.

“I don’t want to sacrifice my children in the name of solidarity,” said Gianati, believing it was too early to understand the long-term effects of new vaccines on very young children. “I tell myself that I’m married, have two kids, live my life, and if I have problems later on, it’s my choice. But I don’t want to impose my own choice on my children who are too young to make their own decisions.

Omicron seems to be shaking people’s faith in the government’s handling of the pandemic once again. In the initial stages, the government faltering response – and especially their misleading and contradictory statements about wearing masks – created deep distrust among many Frenchmen.

Just a year ago, as France launched its vaccination campaign, a Ipsos survey The percentage of adults in 15 countries found that confidence in a Covid-19 vaccine was the lowest in France. Only 40 percent of French said they would be vaccinated, compared to 77 percent in the UK and 69 percent in the United States.

But the government has launched a campaign whose full strategy will be revealed in the coming months. Members of the president’s scientific advisory panel, including Mr. Chauvin, gave tips in April. article Lancet.

“The important thing,” they wrote, “is that the new approach must be based on a clear and transparent social contract.”

In July, Mr. Macron made the terms of the deal clear. national address.

“We must act to vaccinate all the French for our protection and unity,” he said, “because it is the only way to return to a normal life.”

Get vaccinated and get a health card. Those who were not vaccinated would be gradually removed from public spaces.

The policy triggered protests and raised concerns of a mass movement such as the Yellow Vests, whose demonstrations against the government’s economic policies paralyzed much of France three years ago. But protests subsided as the government struck a winning balance between carrots and sticks.

Today, less than four months before the presidential election, the government is betting it can keep that balance against Omicron. He asked the French to fire their booster faster than planned. It’s also moving to tighten health transition eligibility by allowing people to get it only with proof of vaccine, no longer with negative tests.

Announcing the new terms of the agreement, Prime Minister Jean Castex did not promise to return to normal life. On the contrary, Mr. Castex said, “This whole thing feels like a never ending movie.”