Passports expansion is backed

But it can’t be ‘panacea’ to rising cases

HEALTH and care leaders have backed the prospect of Scotland’s coronavirus vaccine passport scheme being extended.

Dr Andrew Buist of the British Medical Association (BMA) and Donald Macaskill from Scottish Care, which represents care homes and care at home providers, said they would support such a move.

It comes after Deputy First Minister John Swinney said on Tuesday that the Scottish Government is considering extending the vaccine certification scheme, which is already in place in nightclubs and at other large events, to further parts of the hospitality and leisure sectors.

But the Scottish Chambers of Commerce insists it would be a “massive step backwards”.

With fears infections could spike again from the current “concerningly high DEBATE Our story of passport extension plan level”, Swinney told MSPs the country is in a “precarious and unpredictable” situation in the fight against the virus. Dr Buist, the BMA’s GP Committee chair, told Holyrood’s Covid-19 Recovery Committee: “If I am going into a cinema or theatre or something like that, it would be useful to know people I don’t know have been vaccinated, that would give me some comfort. In short, I would be supportive of the proposal to extend it.” Macaskill, chief executive of Scottish Care, said given the “undeniable” relationship between transmission in the community and what happens in the £3m care deal sector, he “personally would be in favour of the extension of the use of vaccination passports”. But he told the committee: “We’ve got to be careful we don’t see that somehow as a panacea to address the rising number of cases.”