Will Vaccine Passports be Coming to the UK?

With the rollout of vaccines picking up around the world, there has been some talk of the highly debated idea of vaccine passports – a passport of freedom for those who are vaccinated against Covid-19.

What are Vaccine Passports?

“many scientists are also still unsure on whether vaccination alone is completely effective at stopping the spread of Covid-19.”

Vaccine passports would be a form of proving that one has been vaccinated against Covid-19. This could be in the form of a digital app or a physical certificate of vaccination, which would allow those who have been vaccinated to access to certain places or activities.

Vaccine passports do also provide some logistical problems though, as there is no database of all of the people globally who have received vaccinations. As a result, countries would have to set a more global standard for proof of vaccination to prevent counterfeit certificates. The WHO and many scientists are also still unsure on whether vaccination alone is completely effective at stopping the spread of Covid-19.

Will they be required for Travel?

This week British Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Sky News that the government is investigating with other countries how immunity passports would work for travel “because if other countries require that we want to allow Brits to be able to travel to those countries”.

Some countries have already started the process of approving vaccine passports for travel. On 8th February 2021, Greece and Israel agreed to a deal to allow people who have been vaccinated from those countries to move freely between the two countries without needing to self-isolate. France is also currently doing a public consultation about vaccine passports for travel, and Switzerland is considering it too.

With many top travel destinations in Europe considering vaccine passports, it seems possible that proof of vaccination for travel could become the norm for travel to many countries just as proof of a negative Covid-19 test has.

Criticisms of Fairness

The idea of vaccination passports has also faced some criticism, as younger healthier people will be the last to get the vaccine which could mean that they may have limited access to activities or travel while older people do not. Travel may not be necessary, but this could lead to problems if private businesses within the UK put in place these requirements.

“discussions around vaccine passports will continue to be highly debated.”

Secretary Matt Hancock did tell Sky News, “What I don’t think we will have in this country is – as it were – vaccination passports to allow you to go to, say, the pub or something like that.” This provides some reassurance that not yet being vaccinated will not limit domestic opportunities, but the vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said it was up to businesses to decide what control measures they put in place, somewhat conflicting with the Health Secretary’s statement.

Whatever businesses or other countries decide about vaccine passports, to implement it in the UK they would need to work with the government as the NHS data on who has been vaccinated is not publicly available. As the British government begins to lay out the plan out of lockdown in the coming weeks, discussions around vaccine passports will continue to be highly debated.

Monique Mulima

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