France's Health Minister Olivier Veran has said the vaccine pass will remain in place until hospitals are able to function normally without cancelling non-emergency procedures to make room for Covid patients in intensive care, Reuters reports.

"When we have emptied intensive care units, or at least ... when there is no further cancellation of procedures and if no new variant in circulation, then the utility of the vaccine pass will be debatable," the minister told BFM TV.

France was still a way off that point, with 3,700 COVID patients in intensive care, Veran said, suggesting that number would need to come down to around 1,000 before the vaccine pass rules could be removed.

Asked whether France would require a second booster shot, Veran said it would depend on whether there were further mutations of the virus.