Boris warned travel industry to unilaterally introduce jab passports to rescue sector
Vaccine passports are 'going to happen' claims Hammond
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Former Health Minister Stephen Hammond warned that vaccine passports could be on the horizon without government involvement as companies want to prove they are Covid-secure to customers. Mr Hammond said airlines or pubs could require the documents as you enter the premises which could bring back punters who have been scared away because of Covid. He added that market forces are so large it would not necessarily need the Government to intervene or regulate.
Speaking on talkRADIO, host Julia Hartley-Brewer said: “There’s also some talk about people needing a vaccine passport to prove or with an app on their phone that they’re safe to go into a pub, into a restaurant, or into a supermarket, even into a theatre, should we go down that route?”
The MP for Wimbledon said “I think it’s gonna happen whether the Government regulates it or not.
“I think simply getting back to normal life, if you’re a pub-owning group and you say, actually, to get more people in my pub I want you to prove you’ve had that vaccine because other people won’t come unless we can prove that.
“I think it’s just gonna happen, I don’t think it’s a matter of the Government I think market forces will be so strong that people will need to show that they’ve had that vaccine, and so you can say I don’t want the vaccine – but it may restrict what you’re going to do.
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“I don’t think it’s a question of the Government regulating it all I just think, you know, airlines will say well if you want to come on my plane, and that’s their choice as much as it’s your choice to go anywhere, you need to show something.
“If you want to come into my pub, you need to show something.”
Vaccination passports are documents which show you have received a COVID-19 vaccination.
The UK Government is split on whether they should be introduced as Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ruled them out for the hospitality industry but Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said they could be used for shops.
Matt Hancock discusses possibility of vaccine passports in UK
Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced during his Monday media round that while vaccine passports would not be introduced for pubs, it was likely to see them for international travel.
Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi called the passports “discriminatory” as the issue appears to be causing disagreement among ministers.
It comes as the UK hit its 15 million vaccination target last weekend as phase two of the rollout begins.
Boris Johnson is expected to lay out the specific dates for unlocking the country next Monday on February 22.
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It is expected sectors like education will be the first to reopen with a review of the tier system quickly following.
On February 14, there were 258 deaths from Covid.
The current weekly average deaths are 25.5 percent less than last week.
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